I can read this as religion being the tamer of the beast, and that the beast would inevitably slash everything in sight if the tamer fell asleep.

If a shepherd falls asleep, the sheep start slashing everything? ?! Why would you choose such an interpretation?

I've lived in a country where the religions were marginalized (except that you could get into jail for "insulting religious feelings of believers"), and the people were still polite, friendly and merry. Actually, even more merry, because the old "you can't marry him, he's a {insert the other denomination here}" didn't apply anymore. The crime rate was low, there were no homeless people (each municipality owned some housing for the neediest).

Difficult to respond without sounding harsh. Lets just say that the country you describe will go down in the history of the 20th Century as the country where the UN failed to prevent ethnic cleansing by former citizens at each others' throats. It's hardly a poster child to hold up against your new home.