Humans have existed in our current "form" for tens of thousands of years. For the bulk of that time, little changed. After the advent of agriculture some ~10 thousand years ago, things speeded up, but progress was still slow and the emergence of "science" or the sciences barely touched upon by any culture or civilization. The necessary conditions for the emergence of the scientific endeavor occurred as a result of Christian religious dogma and doctrine (which borrowed/stole liberally from other cultures, especially Greek). Newtonian physics was based upon a theological assumption. Lagrangian mechanics, both in its classical form and as the foundation upon which the whole of quantum/particle physics was/is built, owes its existence to theological beliefs about the perfection of God. The greatest intellectuals in history as well as the founders of the vast majority of intellectual progress have not only been religious, but achieved what they did because of their religious beliefs.
Meanwhile, a doctrine-like belief that religion is harmful and/or in atheism underlay the sociopolitical conditions in the 20th century that made possible the worst mass slaughter and inhumanity in history.
Monotheism gave us witch trials, crusades, slaughter, intellectual sterility, etc. It also bequeathed to us modern physics, Western intellectual tradition, the university system, etc., while atheism as a fundamental component of a worldview was instrumental in the greatest slaughters and travesties in history.
In the end, it turns out that neither the existence of religion nor its lack causes or impedes stupidity. We are just generally stupid. Doctrine happens to be fundamental to the emergence of any intellectual tradition as well as the emergence of any sort of scientific enterprise. It also happens to be instrumental to many an exercise in futility and cruelty.
