I refer to my earlier comments that this really comes down to improvements in communication technology. It wasn't until the breakup of the monotheistic power structures and the dead-hand that they exerted on worldly knowledge was there even the opportunity for political and investigative freedom. That instance occurred in Europe for a variety of factors (the combination of movable type plus alphabetic script). But it's too a stretch to suggest that these were a result of a Christian tradition, or even a rediscovery of the pagan classics. It could have just as easily happened elsewhere.

Sometimes the most profound changes in history have the origins of the right people and right things being present at the right time. Modernity for Europe is one of those.