Consumption as a Religion?

This is Sophie

One of the most interesting aspects for me that Ritzer makes in Enchanting a Disenchanted world http://www.amazon.com/Enchanting-Disenchanted-World-Revolutionizing-Consumption/dp/0761961011 is his comparison between places of consumption and cathedrals.  There is a connection he is making between places of mass consumption and places of religious worship.  Has our society begun to "worship" such "cathedrals" as providing certain answers?  We like "stuff", this is true now and I think it will be true for a long time.  We like "stuff" so much so that it is almost as though we need to consume and depend on consumption in a way that we used to depend on religion to help us get through certain situations. 
Although this may be a bit of a stretch and I may be exaggerating a little, I do think that we consume too much too quickly and it is often just because we want.  When I think about how much money I spend on things that I do not really need, without thinking about where this stuff is coming from, who is making it, and what the working conditions probably are, it is sickening.
If we go shopping, consume, to feel better, is it fair to compare that to people seeking out religion for comfort?  If so, have we gone so far to even say that perhaps consumption is beginning to take the place of other, possibly more meaningful, things we could be doing with our time?