Well, I've been trying to figure out the Jewish/Christian story.

It seems to basically concern the human desire to occupy a land mass and self-govern as a nation. The Old Testament told a story of God arranging this situation for some escaped slaves. But it didn't last.

The New Testament came along and told a story of a deity arriving on earth and saying that occupying a land mass and self-governing was never God's objective. Rather, Jesus wanted people to cultivate inner spiritual values in whatever situation they are in, wherever in the world.

That had little appeal, because people basically want to occupy a land mass and self-govern. The Old Testament was more interesting for most Christians and set up the problem with anti-Semitism, as two religions competed for the same story. Everyone wanted to be "Israel."

Christianity spread for awhile and then largely died out—except in Europe, where it survived by attaching to the Roman drive for colonialism. Europe is small (smaller than Australia!) but full of outsized egos and no spirituality to encourage quiescence. There were continual wars, as European nations fought each other throughout the Middle Ages, with Europe trying to colonize itself.

With the discovery of the New World, Christianity reinvigorated. It became again a religion for colonizing—perfect for not being tied to one land mass, not requiring a Temple, and allowing rulers to appoint new clerics at will (without lineage requirements). Plus it could be used to subordinate native populations. Jesus' prompt to go convert people was transformed into an imperial drive. Colonialism became "conversion."

The Protestant Reformation resulted since that was a more portable version of the religion that didn't have to check in with Rome. It allowed local control.

So then America and other colonies achieved self-governance on a land mass, but were stuck with Christianity! The religion was not much use in a political climate that wasn't focused on colonizing. So Christianity became, as you say, a lot of "rules"—which was various Christian factions trying to get their members in line to be able to assert more power within American politics.

Unless rewritten into a colonizing force, Christianity is largely just a mental exercise for odd people.