An alternative view: The "Dark Age"occurred owing to suppression of new ideas by the Church and Popes, and ended only when Martin Luther challenged the authority of the Vatican. Elements of the Dark Ages are perpetuated by their fellow fundamentalists who refused to accept the Germ Theory of Disease, refused to accept women as equal citizens, refuse to accept women as spirtual in leadership.
The US Constitution derives from the Enlightenment. It is not even a tiny bit Christian. It rejects all the previous church hierarchies and claims to 'truth' in matters of government.
The "alternative view" is not even remotely correct.
The "Dark Ages," as they are currently understood, never existed. They are a myth.
The time prior to the Renaissance was a time of immense intellectual activity and growth. The Catholic Church, far from suppressing new ideas (another favorite myth) founded many universities and facilitated learning on a dramatic scale. It was the Church that preserved the writings of the ancients, which otherwise would have been lost forever.
The Renaissance was a direct result of the intellectual outpouring of the middle ages, erroneously dubbed the "Dark Ages" by those who don't have a clue.
LOL, very funny stuff.