The most important thing is reality.
Some countries can be labeled as religious, but if you look closer and investigate it deeply, actually the opposite happened. Or basically it's empty religious, fake religious.
Religious is always good, if it's being done correctly according to the teaching, not just empty slogan, name, symbol, etc.
How can people who are diligent, responsible, honest, help each other, etc, not be successful?
If there's a country who claims to be religious, but most of the country is backward, a lot of poverty and suffering, and even in ruin. Without need to be told, I think everyone is able to imagine what the local people have done there. Definitely they are not good people, let alone to be labelled as 'religious'.
They are praying in the temple, praising the name of idol like crazy. But when they get home, they become lazy, then they go outside to fool everyone for a small amount of money. If they work, they are dishonest, try to cheat, corrupt, whatever it's time, money, or material. If they saw a man who is diligent and work hard, they become anger and jealous, accusing diligent man as greedy, unreligious, then destroy the man's hard work.
