And an idealogy based exclusively upon Materialism could be condemed by a person of any Faith.

I think in the US, compulsive-obsessive materialism is somewhat balanced, or buffered, by the experience of centuries of really serious religious and social/cultural development. So, even though there is a pervasive and dominating ultra-consumerist machine, you also have all this other cultural stuff running through your social veins. To some degree that encourages a healthy social and individual psychology, IMO.

In other countries, which don't have this social, cultural and religious history, the god Materialism reigns alone, with serious effects on social and individual well-being. In a country like Australia, which is young, and quite cynical regarding idealism and religion, Materialist Crapitalism is now pretty much the only social glue. And the effects of this Mammon-worship on society and individuals, are very obvious to many many people here, especially (but not exclusively) in Sydney. Many people here (like me) despise this, and would love to bring back some real balance and humanity to society, but we are ignored (swamped more like it) by the dominant ideology.

Funny thing is: we are regarded as "naive" by these hardened materialists, whereas in fact THEY are the totally naive ones, who seem to worship their economic machine as if it were a god who was never born and will never die.