usaliberia?

Had a quick check of this documentary about the, err, ability of these guys to present stuff, this time Liberia, in a sensationalsied manner.

Liberia, was formed by a sort of reversed coloniaisation by freed african linkable slaves. (..with a help from others who might have had a different view of colonianisation..)

The documentary had a few focuses, such as the scars of the civil war, cannibalism, poverty where poverty as a term seems rich, and more..
Towards the end, the narrator mentions his surprise(??!!) – or something to that effect – that there seem to be so much religion, lots of churches and people actually using them, among all the drugs, prostitution, killings, cannibalism, and so forth..
I am surprised at his surprise.. Not a very good way of putting it, but hey.. Religion goes precisely with lack of humanity, lack of art, lack of education, lack of medicine, etc.. Religion, among other stuff, seems to come as a cheap and often poor replacement for appeasement of the poor. Keep people where they are at while allowing life to, kinda, go on..
Is it not?
Am wondering how come he was surprised.. I wonder if that has anything to do with some perceptions or culture of religiousness in the usa? I think, I get the wind of, that in the us of a a church goes person seems automatically positive. Or a neighbourhood without a church, seems to be taken sort of negatively? (church is kind of a catchall for some communal worship place..)