Imagine A World Without Religion.

[Polaris]

The Dark Ages actually ended when the Christian Church became an integral part of the political realm.

The dark ages is a discarded category no longer used by any creditable historians.

Only insomuch as its use after 800 CE. We still use it to describe the period between the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the ascension of Charlemagne.

Before it was used to describe the Middle Ages leading up to the Renaissance.