You Said: The issue is that people fail to see that Revelation 17 is speaking of a religious system..... On the other hand Revelation 18 is about a city of commerce located in literal Babylon ....

　

My Response: Your statement above simply cannot be true because it contradicts itself. You claim that revelations 17 is a religious system and NOT a literal city. However it states in revelation 17:18

"And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth."

I'll therefore have to conclude that both Rev.17 and Rev.18 both speak of the same entity

--- a whorish woman(a great city) whose whoredom covers the face of the entire earth, and

thus is judged for her exceeding immoralities.