Why it is misinterpreted us for the following reasons:

The Whore Babylon is not a actual woman,yet a city
The creature that she sits on that has seven heads
is a platform with seven mountains
The many waters that she sits on are the people on the earth
The whore wears purple and scarlet

This description fits Rome to a T that to consider it otherwise
is to dismiss what the Bible plainly says.

Rome has it’s priesthood in purple and scarlet.
This is a fact.

There is more than one beast in the book.

In fact the Image of the Beast is gave life by the second beast.
The Image of the Beast is in fact the image of the first beast.

To me these beasts are metaphors for rulers,harsh rulers.
These rulers are possibly like Hitler considering how forceful that they are.

I could go on and on,
yet if you actually read the full passage about the sentences above
it seems to me that they are trying to take the place of God himself
and that may be why accepting it is not forgiveable ever.