Which society are you referring to? The Mayans were highly religious, guided by "elemental gods", "spirits" and the "heavens". Not many human civilizations have gone without some sort of religious belief system.
By saying "a zest for knowledge that is unclouded by religion" I wasn't referring to whether they were religious or not. I was just trying to say that they didn't turn a blind eye to their observations
because of their religion. I think that's as far as I can go into the subject without getting skuzzified.