Some degree of progress was permitted by the church as long as it did not challenge church dogma and authority. Science and philosophy began to really flourish once the power of the church was broken. Look at the resistance to evolution that Darwin faced as an example.
So if the power of the church was broken, then who's been the social engineers in the mean time, I don't hold anything against the progress we have made, but if it wasn't the church running it then why blame religion for the state of our cultures and history, the blame lays squarely on who wrestled the power from the church.
