There is more than writing attributed to the Renaissance. The Church did a lot to preserve, but did not provide study for painting, music, or architecture, all of which went to new heights in this time. The Church did provide patronage (money). The contrast between Renaissance and Middle Age art is dramatic.
The Italian artists kicking off this era could only exist under the great economic conditions created by Italian Mercantilism. The great economy also allowed for larger coffers in the Church to supply their patronage.
The Dark Ages were not as dark thanks to the Church, and much of our knowledge of that time comes from their faithful efforts to preserve.
But no religion has been, in and of itself, the cause of economic prosperity, which is the underlying foundation for the Renaissance and its newly developed “middle class”.
After all, economic prosperity is temporal in nature. The Renaissance did not begin in Italy because that’s where the Pope was, it’s because that’s where capitalism began.
The “renaissance” is more than economic prosperity.