I don't see how this brutality was lacking when humans were more religiously observant.
Not much revolutionary or counter-revolutionary terror, no death camps, comparatively little secret police. Little police and policing in general, actually; you could ride from one end of Europe to another without any prior arrangements, and if you looked alright everyone would let you in. The high and mighty being content with merely existing at the top of traditional "divinely ordained" hierarchy and not having the Will zur Macht that enables really serious tyranny, not attempting to forge new meanings and reality while dragging their subjects to violent insanity.
I agree that it was a cruel, narrow-minded and miserable world that denied whole classes and races a glimpse of hope without a second thought. But we went from one nightmare through a worse one towards a dubious future. There's not much to celebrate so far.
Furthermore, the quote seems to argue for religion.
It argues for a thought pattern and attitude to life that Christianity also exhibits at the best of times, but against the belief in supernatural.
Not much revolutionary or counter-revolutionary terror, no death camps, comparatively little secret police.
What exactly was the war on heresy?
The high and mighty being content with merely existing at the top of traditional "divinely ordained" hierarchy
Peasant revolts based on oppressive governance costs didn't happen?
If we don't count the denial of a glimpse of hope to "whole classes and races" (and genders) of people, then most of what I personally don't approve of in the time period drops out. But even if that isn't included in the ledger, it wasn't all that great for the vast majority of white Christian men.
Here's the new thread for posting quotes, with the usual rules: