From my perspective now, I would say that QM was an idea that was forced on science against much reluctance, whereas materialism seems to have become accepted for historical reasons (the science vs Christianity dispute), and not for any other clear reason.
David
One thing I learned from reading Campbell and other comparative mythologists is that what we call materialism today is really part of something bigger that started forming millennia ago. Also, the really odd thing is that Western religion is also materialistic - yes, religion itself can be materialistic. Imagining God as a potter fashioning creation as the molding of clay, Jesus in the role of a carpenter, saying you are from the dirt and will return to the dirt, imagining God as an old man in the sky, and all the
literalist, physicalist interpretations, in general, of god, heaven/hell, creation, etc. -- these are all materialistic approaches and views on religion.
Getting stuck on the symbol, rather than realizing the symbol references something transcendent, is a materialistic tendency. It all started, roughly speaking, with the (long) transition from the matriarchal religions to the patriarchal religions. Each myth has it's own kind of associated psychology. With matriarchal religions, people typically felt themselves more connected with nature, the ego was less dominant, and a more direct sense of the divine was common. Patriarchal religions are all about development of the ego, or rather greater individual self-awareness and consequently the birth of the hero mythologies, or at least a greater emphasis on the hero, who is the individual that overcomes the illusion of separation (and materialism) and returns to the whole, or source, and preferably returns to assist the rest of humanity with that endeavor. But, as a consequence humanity must go through a temporary age, where there is a separation of humanity from nature and a separation from the divine, with a direct consequence being a predisposition towards materialism. We live in the
depths of that age, right now.
This is why to me the whole comparison of atheism vs Christianity with materialism vs non-materialism is a façade, imho. Both western religions
and secularist views like atheism are
both victims of a materialism that has been in the making for a long, long time. They're two sides of the same old, tarnished coin. The big difference being that Christianity provides the impetus for overcoming materialism (in the example of Christ), whereas atheism is a degenerative view, spiritually speaking, that wants to keep you lost in materialism. That's also the power of Christianity, imho. It can be viewed on multiple levels, starting at a simple, materialistic level with a literal interpretation, while planting seeds that allow a more profound, almost Zen-Like, even abstract view, which later breaks past the initial materialistic tendencies. This view can be seen in folks like Meister Eckhart who would say things like, "
The knower and the known are one. Simple people imagine that they should see God as if he stood there and they here. This is not so. God and I, we are one in knowledge.", or, "
God is at home, it's we who have gone out for a walk.", or "
The ultimate leave-taking is the leaving of God for God". These sayings are from a form of Christianity that has broken past materialistic tendencies. (The sad part being, while folks still hold to a materialistic view of Christianity, sayings such as these can sound anathema, and so Meister Eckhart suffered the consequences of his utterances)
Why did Christ have to incarnate? Our "sin", if you can call it that, was becoming so enmeshed into the material, into the physical, and so separated from the Divine, that it was only by "God" descending into the flesh and "getting right in our faces", so to speak, that there was any hope of having a form of religion, or view of God, that would provide enough internal impetus within our materialistic mode of
consciousness, for us to be able to rise (in consciousness!) back to the spirit, in similar fashion, by following the example of Christ. It was the only kind of God our consciousness could relate to, having sunken into the materialistic slumber we find ourselves in.