“The end of the dark ages, which included more religious, personal, and academic freedom, sparked technological advancements and thriving economies in the West, even more with New World wealth and resources.”
Tell me the year - or even the century - in which the “Dark Ages” ended and which saw the dawn of an age of “more religious, personal, and academic freedom, sparked technological advancements and thriving economies in the West, even more with New World wealth and resources.”
You don’t advance a society when its brightest minds are shackled in fear that they will be accused of heresy and burned or imprisoned for their writing or discoveries. You don’t advance knowledge by banning books with which you disagree. And you certainly don’t grow an economy by crusading against your own people that might believe differently than the state or the majority religion. It should be obvious, especially from our perspective. Look at the prosperity and rapid growth of America. What was the primary difference between us and the rest of the world - freedom from both religious and state despotism.
There was not a specific year, or even century, but a gradual decline in the despotism of religion and the state. On a spiritual level, I think a good answer can be found in Psalm 119:130 - The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple. There is a whole lot of Truth in that verse. When people finally had the opportunity to study the Word in their own language and in their own home, the Blessing began to work in their lives just as God promises.
If I had to pick a moment, I think the invention of mass communication - the printing press starting in the late 15th century, is a good place to start, but one of many factors. Historians claim anywhere from the 13th to the 14th as the end of the Dark Ages. It certainly varied throughout Europe.