Trid, allow me to say that your description of the purpose of the various councils is lacking in depth. As is true with entirety of Catholic teaching, these councils provided the masses with a mix of moral, cultural and political instruction. The error of blending gospel tenets together with cultural and political mores dates back to emperor Constantine and the accepted "norm" of marrying church with state. While there is an obvious connection between church and state/politics, history has shown that religion should not attempt to govern society with a tightly bound set of rules.

What you are implying--and perhaps correctly so from a historical standpoint--is that the councils effectively drew lines in the sand to separate Protestants and Catholic beliefs. Each time Rome puts down a line in the sand, they lose more people who are willing to give "full assent" to their teaching. I believe it is prudent to question man-made rules, do they advance gospel tenets or imperial-style church?