Well, it seems that there are enough "facts" hanging around in two millennia of Christianity, to concoct any theory one might want to concoct. Yes, Jim, there were far too many incidences of cruelty, anger, bad theology, and misinformation in the history of the church.

I work with Irish-born nuns, and I've asked several about their experiences growing up Irish Catholic. They claim the bad stuff was there, but that it was the exception to the rule. Of course, they're in their eighties and still nuns, so their experience must have been good. Jim and Steve haven't been Catholic for a long, long time, so their experience must have been bad. I suppose both the nuns and the detractors have built stories to support their perceptions. We humans do that.
My experience has been mixed - mostly good, but also some serious bad experiences. I blame the bad people for the bad experiences.

The idea of fasting was a spiritual practice to focus one's attention on God - mindfulness might be a more modern word for it. The suggestion became a rule, and with the rule came sanctions for disobedience of the rule. And along with that came some weird reasoning about food in the belly making the body somehow unworthy to receive communion. I don't think you'll find that last thing in any official teaching - but it was a common misconception.

And I'm still wondering about all those Catholics who went to hell for eating meat on Friday....
I never believed they did.

-Joe-