I am not sure what you meant about religion but it was the protestant revolution, the protestant work ethic and the idea the individual has rights that caused the Western world to progress into the American Revolution the declaration of independence the constitution and the French Revolution.
Liberals seem to aspire to high ideals and be hopelessly impractical. What was dreamt up in the bath might not be possible to implement in a democracy. A decade or two before the French Revolution, France particularly was buzzing with new ideas. So what went so disastrously wrong ?
It isn't just the West that is holding itself back. Pictures of the people in Afghanistan, Pakistan etc. are dressed much as they were 2,000 years ago. It seems their mindset is similiar too. Is it religion holding them back ?
China threw off the yoke of the past and look where they are now !! It has only taken them 3 decades to catch up. A lesson could be learnt here it seems ?