A trope I've often seen used in fiction is a church that is clearly analogous to the Christian Church being put in a position where they are a force of corruption or oppression of their people. Knowing how the bad rep of the Spanish Inquisition was largely exacerbated, I've come to doubt that it is quite so cut and dry. Is the image of the Catholic Church, as well as the various Protestant Churches that came about as a result of the reformation, as oppressive and corrupt at all deserved?