Marterialism is, then, merely a proposition of belief, and, as such, constitutes a religion just as a non-denominational church is a religion.
Religion concerns that which is beyond the visible, i.e., material, world. At least in my unabridged Webster's. In reality, religion and materialism are mutually exclusive terms. Calling "materialism" a "religion" is to destroy the meaning of both words. The same trashing of language can be seen in those that insist that anyone who considers the ToE as scientifically accurate are indulging in "faith" but ID advocates are honest scientists. Utter "non-sense" in the literal meaning of the term.
The rest of the argument about the supposed evils of materialism is merely a matter of historical demographics. Had there been an equal number of human beings on the planet during the Inquisition and the Middle Ages then a similar proportion of the population would have been tortured to death and burned at the stake for being demon spawn. The 8 million mostly women and children that were murdered for being witches and such was a comparable percentage of the population as the commie's put to death in various forms in the last century or so. It isn't the belief system but the respect for human rights that the belief in reason brought that changed that outlook.
We see the proof today in a religious system that refuses to enter into the 21st century by using violence to tear down the technological advances it rejects. Just believing in a religion is no guarantee of anything. If ID proponents get their way in the public (government) schools then eventually you can expect to see those religious leaders acting as the Ayatollas do now.
Finally, the assertion that ID is about anything other than sneaking Creationism into the school curriculum was belied by the reaction of none other than our favorite goofball Pat Robertson who said that should anything bad befall Dover then they couldn't pray to God for help after already having ejected Him from the city.
Now if ID isn't about teaching Creationism in the schools how could he make this statement?
The truth is, and I've said this before, the reason ID advocates want Creationism taught in the schools is to influence other people's children since they have no other agency by which to force them to be exposed to their supernatural belief system. It is really kind of hilarious. ID advocates lie like the devil denying that ID is really Creationism while in their hearts they know that that is exactly what it is.
Can you say "Irony?"
What5 is materialism, if it not merely a belief system?