>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?

Well, supply yours then.

>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.

That was the next country set, after the one I'm talking about was dismantled by who knows whose political will. Not the will of the ordinary people, until they were goaded by months of relentless propaganda. And that was when religions started messing with everything in sight - the Catholic priests were very proactive in purifying Croatia, Orthodox priests were seen blessing the paramilitary troops, and the mullahs were already pumping their faithful to multiply (even publicly condemning families with fewer than five children) and weed out the infidels. They helped it a lot.