Idolatry Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Abrahamic religions== ===Judaism=== {{Main|Idolatry in Judaism|Aniconism in Judaism}} [[File:Decalogue parchment by Jekuthiel Sofer 1768.jpg|thumb|alt=This is an image of a copy of the 1675 Ten Commandments, at the Amsterdam Esnoga synagogue, produced on parchment in 1768 by [[Jekuthiel Sofer]], a prolific Jewish scribe in Amsterdam. It has Hebrew language writing in two columns separated between, and surrounded by, ornate flowery patterns.|A 1768 synagogue [[parchment]] with the Ten Commandments by [[Jekuthiel Sofer]]. Among other things, it prohibits idolatry.<ref>{{cite web|title=UBA: Rosenthaliana 1768|url=http://cf.uba.uva.nl/nl/publicaties/treasures/page/p34.html|access-date=26 April 2012|trans-title={{lang-en|1768: The Ten Commandments, copied in Amsterdam Jekuthiel Sofer}}|language=nl}}</ref>]] [[Judaism]] prohibits any form of idolatry<ref name="Kogan1992p169">{{cite book|author=Barry Kogan|title=Proceedings of the Academy for Jewish Philosophy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W3FTAAAAYAAJ |year=1992|publisher=University Press of America|isbn=978-0-8191-7925-8|pages=169–170}}</ref> even if they are used to worship the one [[God in Judaism|God of Judaism]] as occurred during the sin of the [[golden calf]]. According to the second word of the [[Ten Commandments|decalogue]], [[Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image]]. The worship of foreign gods in any form or through icons is not allowed.<ref name="Kogan1992p169"/><ref name=novak73>{{cite book|author=David Novak|title=Leo Strauss and Judaism: Jerusalem and Athens Critically Revisited|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s5Gs-jYQ3AEC |year=1996|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-8476-8147-1|pages=72–73}}</ref> Many Jewish scholars such as Rabbi [[Saadia Gaon]], Rabbi [[Bahya ibn Paquda]], and Rabbi [[Yehuda Halevi]] have elaborated on the issues of idolatry. One of the oft-cited discussions is the commentary of Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon ([[Maimonides]]) on idolatry.<ref name=novak73/> According to the Maimonidean interpretation, idolatry in itself is not a fundamental sin, but the grave sin is the denial of God's [[omnipresence]] that occurs with the belief that God can be corporeal. In the Jewish belief, the only image of God is man, one who lives and thinks; God has no visible shape, and it is absurd to make or worship images; instead man must worship the invisible God alone.<ref name=novak73/><ref>{{cite book|author1=Hava Tirosh-Samuelson|author2=Aaron W. Hughes|title=Arthur Green: Hasidism for Tomorrow |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oShzCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA231 |year=2015|publisher=BRILL Academic|isbn=978-90-04-30842-8|page=231}}</ref> The commandments in the Hebrew Bible against idolatry forbade the practices and gods of ancient [[Akkadian Empire|Akkad]], [[Mesopotamia]], and [[history of Egypt|Egypt]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Shalom Goldman|title=Wiles of Women/The Wiles of Men, The: Joseph and Potiphar's Wife in Ancient Near Eastern, Jewish, and Islamic Folklore|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZeHZeY7isJkC |year=2012|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-1-4384-0431-8|pages=64–68}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Abraham Joshua Heschel|title=Heavenly Torah: As Refracted Through the Generations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WAGK8GiNrQgC&pg=PA74 |year=2005|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|isbn=978-0-8264-0802-0|pages=73–75}}</ref> The [[Tanakh|Hebrew Bible]] states that God has no shape or form, is utterly incomparable, is everywhere and cannot be represented in a physical form of an idol.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Frank L. Kidner|author2=Maria Bucur|author3=Ralph Mathisen|display-authors=etal|title=Making Europe: People, Politics, and Culture, Volume I: To 1790|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sroFl-rIRhYC&pg=PA40|year=2007|publisher=Cengage|isbn=978-0-618-00480-5|page=40}}</ref> Biblical scholars have historically focused on the textual evidence to construct the history of idolatry in Judaism, a scholarship that post-modern scholars have increasingly begun deconstructing.<ref name=janowitz239/> This biblical [[polemic]]s, states Naomi Janowitz, a professor of Religious Studies, has distorted the reality of Israelite religious practices and the historic use of images in Judaism. The direct material evidence is more reliable, such as that from the archaeological sites, and this suggests that the Jewish religious practices have been far more complex than what biblical polemics suggest. Judaism included images and cultic statues in the First Temple period, the Second Temple period, Late Antiquity (2nd to 8th century CE), and thereafter.<ref name=janowitz239/><ref>{{cite book|author=Timothy Insoll|title=Archaeology and World Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FTqCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA112 |year=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-59798-7|pages=112–113}}</ref> Nonetheless, these sorts of evidence may be simply descriptive of Ancient Israelite practices in some—possibly deviant—circles, but cannot tell us anything about the mainstream religion of the Bible which proscribes idolatry.<ref>{{cite book|author=Reuven Chaim Klein|title=God versus Gods: Judaism in the Age of Idolatry|url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1946351466|year=2018|publisher=Mosaica Press|isbn=978-1946351463}}</ref> The history of Jewish religious practice has included cult images and figurines made of ivory, [[terracotta]], [[faience]] and seals.<ref name=janowitz239/><ref>Allen Shapiro (2011), [http://hdl.handle.net/11603/1923 Judean pillar figurines: a study], MA Thesis, Advisor: Barry Gittlen, Towson University, United States</ref> As more material evidence emerged, one proposal has been that Judaism oscillated between idolatry and iconoclasm. However, the dating of the objects and texts suggest that the two theologies and liturgical practices existed simultaneously. The claimed rejection of idolatry because of monotheism found in Jewish literature and therefrom in biblical Christian literature, states Janowitz, has been unreal abstraction and flawed construction of the actual history.<ref name=janowitz239/> The material evidence of images, statues and figurines taken together with the textual description of [[cherub]] and "wine standing for blood", for example, suggests that symbolism, making religious images, icon and index has been integral part of Judaism.<ref name=janowitz239/><ref>{{cite book|author=Rachel Neis|title=The Sense of Sight in Rabbinic Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UjAWBQAAQBAJ |date=29 August 2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-03251-4|pages=99–100 with footnotes}}</ref><ref name="Fine2001">{{cite book|author=Kalman Bland|editor=Lawrence Fine|title=Judaism in Practice: From the Middle Ages Through the Early Modern Period |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ohYOD34VlXEC&pg=PA290|year=2001|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-05787-3|pages=290–291}}</ref> Every religion has some objects that represent the divine and stand for something in the mind of the faithful, and Judaism too has had its holy objects and symbols such as the [[Menorah (Temple)|Menorah]].<ref name=janowitz239>{{cite journal | last=Janowitz | first=Naomi | title=Good Jews Don't: Historical and Philosophical Constructions of Idolatry | journal=History of Religions | volume=47 | issue=2/3 | year=2007 | pages=239–252 | url=http://escholarship.org/uc/item/9wn4p4b5 | doi=10.1086/524212| s2cid=170216039 }}</ref> ===Christianity=== {{Main|Religious images in Christian theology|Aniconism in Christianity}} [[File:BMVB - Juan Andrés Ricci - Sant Benet destruint els ídols - 8610.tif|thumb|[[Benedict of Nursia|St. Benedict]] destroying a pagan idol, by [[Juan Rizi]] (1600–1681)]]Ideas on idolatry in Christianity are based on the first of [[Ten Commandments]]. {{Blockquote|You shall have no other gods before me.<ref name="Wray2011p164">{{cite book|author=T. J. Wray|title=What the Bible Really Tells Us: The Essential Guide to Biblical Literacy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OAewArzQ624C |year=2011|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-1-4422-1293-0|pages=164–165}}</ref>}} This is expressed in the Bible in Exodus 20:3, [[Matthew 4:10]], Luke 4:8 and elsewhere, e.g.:<ref name="Wray2011p164"/> {{Blockquote|Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the Lord your God. Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary.|[[Book of Leviticus|Leviticus]] 26:1–2, King James Bible<ref>{{cite book|author=Terrance Shaw|title=The Shaw's Revised King James Holy Bible|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FAsMFyVX8_AC&pg=PA74|year=2010|publisher=Trafford Publishing|isbn=978-1-4251-1667-5|page=74}}</ref>}} The Christian view of idolatry may generally be divided into two general categories: the [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] and [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]] view which accepts the use of religious images,<ref name="Flinn2007p358">{{cite book|author=Frank K. Flinn|title=Encyclopedia of Catholicism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gxEONS0FFlsC&pg=PA358|year=2007|publisher=Infobase|isbn=978-0-8160-7565-2|pages=358–359}}</ref> and the views of many [[Protestant]] churches that considerably restrict their use. However, many Protestants have used the image of the [[Christian cross|cross]] as a symbol.<ref name="Leora Batnitzky 2009 147–156">{{cite book|author=Leora Batnitzky|title=Idolatry and Representation: The Philosophy of Franz Rosenzweig Reconsidered|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_lZYGuU7wCAC&pg=PA147| year=2009| publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-2358-1|pages=147–156}}</ref><ref name="Ryan K. Smith 2011 79–81">{{cite book|author=Ryan K. Smith|title=Gothic Arches, Latin Crosses: Anti-Catholicism and American Church Designs in the Nineteenth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OoMJo0kJQTsC&pg=PA79| year=2011| publisher=University of North Carolina Press|isbn=978-0-8078-7728-9|pages=79–81}}</ref> ====Catholicism==== {{multiple image | align = right | image1 = Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus, Marija Bistrica.JPG | width1 = 121 | alt1 = | caption1 = | image2 = Santa Maria di Licodia Madonna del Carmelo Procession.jpg | width2 = 180 | alt2 = | caption2 = | footer = The veneration of Mary, Jesus Christ, and the Black Madonna are common practices in the Catholic Church. }} The Roman Catholic and particularly the Orthodox Churches have traditionally defended the use of icons. The debate on what images signify and whether reverence with the help of icons in church is equivalent to idolatry has lasted for many centuries, particularly from the 7th century until the [[Reformation]] in the 16th century.<ref name="Halbertal1992p39">{{cite book|author1=Moshe Halbertal|author2=Avishai Margalit|author3=Naomi Goldblum|title=Idolatry |url= https://archive.org/details/idolatry00halb |url-access=registration|year=1992|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-44313-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/idolatry00halb/page/39 39]–40, 102–103, 116–119}}</ref> These debates have supported the inclusion of icons of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Apostles, the iconography expressed in stained glass, regional saints and other symbols of Christian faith. It has also supported the practices such as the Catholic mass, burning of candles before pictures, Christmas decorations and celebrations, and festive or memorial processions with statues of religious significance to Christianity.<ref name="Halbertal1992p39"/><ref name="Craighen1914">{{cite book|author=L. A. Craighen|title=The Practice of Idolatry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K4tbAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA21|year=1914|publisher=Taylor & Taylor|pages=21–26, 30–31}}</ref><ref name="Vance1989p5">{{cite book|author=William L. Vance|title=America's Rome: Catholic and contemporary Rome |url=https://archive.org/details/americasrome00vanc |url-access=registration|year=1989|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-04453-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/americasrome00vanc/page/5 5]–8, 12, 17–18}}</ref> St. [[John of Damascus]], in his "On the Divine Image", defended the use of icons and images, in direct response to the [[Byzantine iconoclasm]] that began widespread destruction of religious images in the 8th century, with support from emperor [[Leo III the Isaurian|Leo III]] and continued by his successor [[Constantine V]] during a period of religious war with the invading [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyads]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Stephen Gero|title=Byzantine Iconoclasm During the Reign of Leo III: With Particular Attention to the Oriental Sources |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xIEwAAAAYAAJ |year=1973|publisher=Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium: Subsidia|pages=1–7, 44–45|isbn=9789042903876 }}</ref> John of Damascus wrote, "I venture to draw an image of the invisible God, not as invisible, but as having become visible for our sakes through flesh and blood", adding that images are expressions "for remembrance either of wonder, or an honor, or dishonor, or good, or evil" and that a book is also a written image in another form.<ref>{{cite book|author=Saint John (of Damascus)|title=St. John Damascene on Holy Images: (pros Tous Diaballontas Tas Agias Eikonas)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ibnUAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA5|year=1898|publisher=T. Baker|pages=5–6, 12–17}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Hans J. Hillerbrand|title=A New History of Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pmBUIcGW4T4C&pg=PA367|year=2012|publisher=Abingdon|isbn=978-1-4267-1914-1|pages=131–133, 367}}</ref> He defended the religious use of images based on the Christian doctrine of Jesus as an [[incarnation]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Benedict Groschel|title=I Am with You Always: A Study of the History and Meaning of Personal Devotion to Jesus Christ for Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christians|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Usg9r1NZjcC&pg=PA58|year=2010|publisher=Ignatius|isbn=978-1-58617-257-2|pages=58–60}}</ref> St. [[John the Evangelist]] cited John 1:14, stating that "the Word became flesh" indicates that the invisible God became visible, that God's glory manifested in God's one and only Son as Jesus Christ, and therefore God chose to make the invisible into a visible form, the spiritual incarnated into the material form.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jeffrey F. Hamburger|title=St. John the Divine: The Deified Evangelist in Medieval Art and Theology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5S0lDQAAQBAJ |year=2002|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-22877-1|pages=3, 18–24, 30–31}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Ronald P. Byars|title=The Future of Protestant Worship: Beyond the Worship Wars|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yu_jMWKICzcC&pg=PA43|year=2002| publisher=Westminster John Knox Press| isbn=978-0-664-22572-8|pages=43–44}}</ref> [[File:August Kraus Pius V verehrt den Gekreuzigten.jpg|thumb|right|[[Pope Pius V]] praying with a crucifix, painting by August Kraus]] The early defense of images included exegesis of Old and New Testament. Evidence for the use of religious images is found in [[Early Christian art]] and documentary records. For example, the veneration of the tombs and statues of martyrs was common among early Christian communities. In 397 St. [[Augustine of Hippo]], in his [[Confessions (St. Augustine)|Confessions]] 6.2.2, tells the story of his mother making offerings for the tombs of martyrs and the oratories built in the memory of the saints.<ref>{{cite book|author=Kenelm Henry Digby|title=Mores Catholici : Or Ages of Faith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=joxbnoov0EkC&pg=PA408| year=1841|publisher=Catholic Society |pages=408–410}}</ref> {{Quote box |quote = <poem> Images function as the Bible for the illiterate, and incite people to piety and virtue. </poem> |source = — [[Pope Gregory I]], 7th century<ref name="Seaman2012p23"/> |bgcolor=#ccccff |align = right }} The Catholic defense mentions textual evidence of external acts of honor towards icons, arguing that there are a difference between adoration and veneration and that the veneration shown to icons differs entirely from the adoration of God. Citing the Old Testament, these arguments present examples of forms of "veneration" such as in Genesis 33:3, with the argument that "adoration is one thing, and that which is offered in order to venerate something of great excellence is another". These arguments assert, "the honor given to the image is transferred to its prototype", and that venerating an image of Christ does not terminate at the image itself – the material of the image is not the object of worship – rather it goes beyond the image, to the prototype.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Horst Woldemar Janson|author2=Anthony F. Janson|title=History of Art: The Western Tradition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MMYHuvhWBH4C&pg=PT386|year=2003|publisher=Prentice Hall|isbn=978-0-13-182895-7|page=386}}</ref><ref name="Seaman2012p23">{{cite book|author1=Natasha T. Seaman|author2=Hendrik Terbrugghen|title=The Religious Paintings of Hendrick Ter Brugghen: Reinventing Christian Painting After the Reformation in Utrecht|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LngM5fhurbMC&pg=PA23|year=2012|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-1-4094-3495-5|pages=23–29}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Henry Ede Eze|title=Images in Catholicism ...idolatry?: Discourse on the First Commandment With Biblical Citations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2h3gcuWJTlcC&pg=PA11 |year=2011|publisher=St. Paul Press|isbn=978-0-9827966-9-6|pages=11–14}}</ref> According to the ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'': {{Blockquote|The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, "the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype," and "whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it." The honor paid to sacred images is a "respectful veneration," not the adoration due to God alone:}} {{Blockquote|Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. The movement toward the image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is.<ref>{{cite book |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church - Paragraph # 2132 |url=http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2132.htm |access-date=26 May 2021}}</ref>}} It also points out the following: {{Blockquote|Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc.<ref name=Catechism>''Catechism of The Catholic Church'', passage 2113, p. 460, Geoffrey Chapman, 1999</ref>}} The manufacture of images of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Christian saints, along with prayers directed to these has been widespread among the Catholic faithful.<ref name="Jones1898p1">{{cite book|author=Thomas W. L. Jones|title=The Queen of Heaven: Màmma Schiavona (the Black Mother), the Madonna of the Pignasecea: a Delineation of the Great Idolatry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TEQQAAAAIAAJ|year=1898|pages=1–2}}</ref> ====Orthodox Church==== The [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] has differentiated between ''[[latria]]'' and ''[[Dulia (Latin)|dulia]]''. A ''latria'' is the [[latria|worship]] due God, and ''latria'' to anyone or anything other than God is doctrinally forbidden by the Orthodox Church; however ''dulia'' has been defined as veneration of religious images, statues or icons which is not only allowed but obligatory.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Kathleen M. Ashley|author2=Robert L. A. Clark|title=Medieval Conduct|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z6M_9muo654C&pg=PA211 |year=2001|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0-8166-3576-4|pages=211–212}}</ref> This distinction was discussed by [[Thomas Aquinas]] in section 3.25 of ''Summa Theologiae''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bernard Lonergan|title=The Incarnate Word: The Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan, Volume 8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RnqMCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA310 |year=2016|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-1-4426-3111-3|pages=310–314}}</ref> [[File:Ostrabrama-prayer.jpg|thumb|The veneration of images of Mary is called [[Marian devotions|Marian devotion]] (above: Lithuania), a practice questioned in the majority of Protestant Christianity.<ref>{{cite book|author=Rev. Robert William Dibdin|title=England warned and counselled; 4 lectures on popery and tractarianism|url=https://archive.org/details/englandwarnedan00dibdgoog|year=1851|publisher=James Nisbet|page=[https://archive.org/details/englandwarnedan00dibdgoog/page/n38 20]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Gary Waller|title=Walsingham and the English Imagination|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qzHL_q84028C&pg=PA153|year=2013|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-1-4094-7860-7|page=153}}</ref>]] In Orthodox [[apologetics|apologetic]] literature, the proper and improper use of images is extensively discussed. Exegetical Orthodox literature points to icons and the manufacture by Moses (under God's commandment) of [[Nehushtan|the Bronze Snake]] in Numbers 21:9, which had the grace and power of God to heal those bitten by real snakes. Similarly, the [[Ark of the Covenant]] was cited as evidence of the ritual object above which Yahweh was present.<ref>{{cite book|author=Sebastian Dabovich|title=The Holy Orthodox Church: Or, The Ritual, Services and Sacraments of the Eastern Apostolic (Greek-Russian) Church|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5jJDAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA21|year=1898|publisher=American Review of Eastern Orthodoxy|pages=21–22|isbn=9780899810300}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Ulrich Broich|author2=Theo Stemmler|author3=Gerd Stratmann|title=Functions of Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YNs9AAAAIAAJ|year=1984|publisher=Niemeyer|isbn=978-3-484-40106-8|pages=120–121}}</ref> Veneration of icons through ''[[proskynesis]]'' was codified in 787 AD by the [[Seventh Ecumenical Council]].<ref name=giakalis1>{{cite book|author=Ambrosios Giakalis|title=Images of the Divine: The Theology of Icons at the Seventh Ecumenical Council|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x6bYAAAAMAAJ |year=2005|publisher=Brill Academic|isbn=978-90-04-14328-9|pages=viii–ix, 1–3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Gabriel Balima|title=Satanic Christianity and the Creation of the Seventh Day |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pNfqjbX2GQgC&pg=PA72 |year=2008|publisher=Dorrance|isbn=978-1-4349-9280-2|pages=72–73}}</ref> This was triggered by the Byzantine Iconoclasm controversy that followed raging Christian-Muslim wars and a period of iconoclasm in West Asia.<ref name=giakalis1/><ref>Patricia Crone (1980), Islam, Judeo-Christianity and Byzantine Iconoclasm, ''Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam'', Volume 2, pages 59–95</ref> The defense of images and the role of the Syrian scholar John of Damascus was pivotal during this period. The Eastern Orthodox Church has ever since celebrated the use of icons and images. [[Eastern Rite Catholic Churches|Eastern Rite Catholics]] also accepts icons in their [[Divine Liturgy]].<ref>{{cite book|author=James Leslie Houlden|title=Jesus in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=17kzgBusXZIC&pg=PA369|year=2003|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-856-3|pages=369–370}}</ref> ====Protestantism==== The idolatry debate has been one of the defining differences between papal Catholicism and anti-papal Protestantism.<ref name="Milton2002p186">{{cite book|author=Anthony Milton|title=Catholic and Reformed: The Roman and Protestant Churches in English Protestant Thought |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=stwluHDJsQgC&pg=PA186 |year=2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-89329-9|pages=186–195}}</ref> The anti-papal writers have prominently questioned the worship practices and images supported by Catholics, with many Protestant scholars listing it as the "one religious error larger than all others". The sub-list of erring practices have included among other things the veneration of Virgin Mary, the Catholic mass, the invocation of saints, and the reverence expected for and expressed to pope himself.<ref name="Milton2002p186"/> The charges of supposed idolatry against the Roman Catholics were leveled by a diverse group of Protestants, from [[Anglicanism|Anglicans]] to [[Calvinism|Calvinists]] in Geneva.<ref name="Milton2002p186"/><ref>{{cite book|author=James Noyes|title=The Politics of Iconoclasm: Religion, Violence and the Culture of Image-Breaking in Christianity and Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VmcBAwAAQBAJ |year=2013|publisher=Tauris|isbn=978-0-85772-288-1|pages=31–37}}</ref> [[File:Altar and bible st Johns Lutheran.jpg|thumb|right|[[Altar]] with Christian Bible and [[crucifix]] on it, in a Lutheran Protestant church]] Protestants did not abandon all icons and symbols of Christianity. They typically avoid the use of images, except the cross, in any context suggestive of veneration. The cross remained their central icon.<ref name="Leora Batnitzky 2009 147–156"/><ref name="Ryan K. Smith 2011 79–81"/> Technically both major branches of Christianity have had their icons, states [[Carlos Eire]], a professor of religious studies and history, but its meaning has been different to each and "one man's devotion was another man's idolatry".<ref name="Eire1989p5">{{cite book|author=Carlos M. N. Eire|title=War Against the Idols: The Reformation of Worship from Erasmus to Calvin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=95sDFZbl4S4C |year=1989|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-37984-7|pages=5–7}}</ref> This was particularly true not only in the intra-Christian debate, states Eire, but also when soldiers of Catholic kings replaced "horrible [[Aztec]] idols" in the American colonies with "beautiful crosses and images of [[Protestant views on Mary|Mary]] and the saints".<ref name="Eire1989p5"/> Protestants often accuse Catholics of idolatry, [[iconolatry]], and even [[paganism]]; in the [[Protestant Reformation]] such language was common to all Protestants. In some cases, such as the [[Puritan]] groups denounced all forms of religious objects, regardless of whether it was a statue or sculpture, or image, including the [[Christian cross]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Richardson |first=R. C. |title=Puritanism in north-west England: a regional study of the diocese of Chester to 1642 |year=1972 |publisher=[[Manchester University Press]]|location=Manchester, England|page=[https://archive.org/details/puritanisminnort0000rich/page/26 26]|isbn=978-0-7190-0477-3|url=https://archive.org/details/puritanisminnort0000rich|url-access=registration }}</ref> The [[Waldensians]] were accused of idolatry by inquisitors.<ref name="Mankey 2022 p. 24">{{cite book | last=Mankey | first=J. | title=The Witches' Sabbath: An Exploration of History, Folklore & Modern Practice | publisher=Llewellyn Worldwide, Limited | year=2022 | isbn=978-0-7387-6717-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JwhUEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT24 | access-date=2023-03-14 | page=24}}</ref> The [[Crucifix|body of Christ on the cross]] is an ancient symbol used within the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] Churches, in contrast with some Protestant groups, which use only a simple cross. In Judaism, the reverence to the icon of Christ in the form of cross has been seen as idolatry.<ref name="Batnitzky2000p145">{{cite book|author=Leora Faye Batnitzky|title=Idolatry and Representation: The Philosophy of Franz Rosenzweig Reconsidered|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tOvdLMZLghUC&pg=PA145|year=2000|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-04850-5|page=145}}</ref> However, some Jewish scholars disagree and consider Christianity to be based on Jewish belief and not truly idolatrous.<ref name="OU-Avoda Zarah">{{cite web|last=Steinsaltz|first=Rabbi Adin|title=Introduction - Masechet Avodah Zarah|url=http://www.ou.org/ou/print_this/73452|work=The Coming Week's Daf Yomi|access-date=31 May 2013}}, Quote: "Over time, however, new religions developed whose basis is in Jewish belief – such as Christianity and Islam – which are based on belief in the Creator and whose adherents follow commandments that are similar to some Torah laws (see the uncensored Rambam in his Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Melakhim 11:4). All of the rishonim agree that adherents of these religions are not idol worshippers and should not be treated as the pagans described in the Torah."</ref> ===Islam=== {{Main|Shirk (Islam)|Taghut}} {{See also|Aniconism in Islam|Blasphemy and Islam}} In Islamic sources, the concept of ''[[Shirk (Islam)|shirk]]'' ([[triliteral root]]: ''sh-r-k'') can refer to "idolatry", though it is most widely used to denote "association of partners with God".<ref name=britshirk>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/shirk Shirk], Encyclopædia Britannica, Quote: "Shirk, (Arabic: "making a partner [of someone]"), in Islam, '''idolatry''', polytheism, and the association of God with other deities. The definition of Shirk differs in Islamic Schools, from Shiism and some classical Sunni Sufism accepting, sometimes, images, pilgrimage to shrines and veneration of relics and saints, to the more puritan Salafi-Wahhabi current, that condemns all the previous mentioned practices. The Quran stresses in many verses that God does not share his powers with any partner (sharik). It warns those who believe their idols will intercede for them that they, together with the idols, will become fuel for hellfire on the Day of Judgment ({{qref|21|98}})."</ref> The concept of ''[[Kufr]]'' (k-f-r) can also include idolatry (among other forms of disbelief).<ref name="Waldman1968p442">{{cite journal | last=Waldman | first=Marilyn Robinson | title=The Development of the Concept of Kufr in the Qur'ān | journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society | volume=88 | issue=3 | year=1968 | pages=442–455 | doi=10.2307/596869 | jstor=596869 }}</ref><ref name="Campo2009p420">{{cite book|author=Juan Eduardo Campo|title=Encyclopedia of Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OZbyz_Hr-eIC|year=2009|publisher=Infobase|isbn=978-1-4381-2696-8|pages=420–421}}, Quote: "[Kafir] They included those who practiced idolatry, did not accept the absolute oneness of God, denied that Muhammad was a prophet, ignored God's commandments and signs (singular ''aya'') and rejected belief in a resurrection and final judgment."</ref> The one who practices ''shirk'' is called ''mushrik'' (plural ''mushrikun'') in the Islamic scriptures.<ref name="Hawting1999p67">{{cite book|author=G. R. Hawting|title=The Idea of Idolatry and the Emergence of Islam: From Polemic to History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mh134wJLwkIC&pg=PA67| year=1999| publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-42635-0|pages=47–51, 67–70}}</ref> The Quran forbids idolatry.<ref name="Hawting1999p67"/> Over 500 mentions of ''kufr'' and ''shirk'' are found in the Quran,<ref name="Waldman1968p442"/><ref name="Firestone1999p88">{{cite book|author=Reuven Firestone|title=Jihad: The Origin of Holy War in Islam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A6kVVeIkzDkC&pg=PA88 |year=1999|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-535219-1|pages=88–89}}</ref> and both concepts are strongly forbidden.<ref name=britshirk/> The Islamic concept of idolatry extends beyond polytheism, and includes some Christians and Jews as ''muširkūn'' (idolaters) and ''kafirun'' (infidels).<ref name="Goddard2000p28">{{cite book|author=Hugh Goddard|title=A History of Christian-Muslim Relations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bq2oLEvHzl8C&pg=PA28| year=2000| publisher= Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1-56663-340-6|page=28}}, Quote: "in some verses it does appear to be suggested that Christians are guilty of both kufr and shirk. This is particularly the case in 5:72 ... In addition to 9:29, therefore, which has been discussed above and which refers to both Jews and Christians, other verses are extremely hostile to both Jews and Christians, other verses are extremely hostile to Christians in particular, suggesting that they both disbelieve (kafara) and are guilty of shirk."</ref><ref name="Leaman2006p144">{{cite book|author=Oliver Leaman|title=The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=isDgI0-0Ip4C&pg=PA145 |year=2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-32639-1|pages=144–146}}</ref> For example: {{Blockquote| Those who say, “Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary,” have certainly fallen into disbelief. The Messiah ˹himself˺ said, “O Children of Israel! Worship Allah—my Lord and your Lord.” Whoever associates others with Allah ˹in worship˺ will surely be forbidden Paradise by Allah. Their home will be the Fire. And the wrongdoers will have no helpers. |{{qref|5|72|c=y}}}} Shia classical theology differs in the concept of Shirk. According to Twelver theologians, the attributes and names of God have no independent and hypostatic existence apart from the being and essence of God. Any suggestion of these attributes and names being conceived of as separate is thought to entail polytheism. It would be even incorrect to say God knows by his knowledge which is in his essence but God knows by his knowledge which is his essence. Also God has no physical form and he is insensible.<ref>Momen (1985), p. 176</ref> The border between theoretical Tawhid and Shirk is to know that every reality and being in its essence, attributes and action are from him (from Him-ness), it is [[Tawhid]]. Every supernatural action of the prophets is by God's permission as Quran points to it. The border between the Tawhid and [[Shirk (Islam)|Shirk]] in practice is to assume something as an end in itself, independent from God, not as a road to God (to Him-ness).<ref name="MM">{{cite book |last1=Motahari |first1=Morteza |author-link=Morteza Motahhari |title=Fundamentals of Islamic thought: God, man, and the universe |date=1985 |publisher=Mizan Press |oclc=909092922}}</ref> Ismailis go deeper into the definition of ''Shirk'', declaring they don't recognize any sort of ''ground of being'' by the esoteric potential to have intuitive knowledge of the human being. Hence, most [[Shias]] have no problem with [[religious symbols]] and [[religious art#islamic art|artworks]], and with reverence for [[Wali]]s, [[Rasūl]]s and [[Imams]]. [[Islam]] strongly prohibits all form of idolatry, which is part of the sin of [[Shirk (Islam)|''shirk'']] ({{lang-ar|شرك}}); ''širk'' comes from the Arabic root [[shin (letter)|Š]]-[[resh|R]]-[[kaph|K]] ({{lang|ar|ش ر ك}}), with the general meaning of "to share". In the context of the Qur'an, the particular sense of "sharing as an equal partner" is usually understood as "attributing a partner to Allah". ''Shirk'' is often translated as idolatry and polytheism.<ref name=britshirk/> In the Qur'an, ''shirk'' and the related word (plural [[Arabic grammar#Stem formation|Stem IV]] active participle) ''mušrikūn'' (مشركون) "those who commit shirk" refers to the enemies of Islam (as in verse 9.1–15). Within Islam, ''shirk'' is sin that can only be forgiven if the person who commits it asks God for forgiveness; if the person who committed it dies without repenting God may forgive any [[Islamic views of sin|sin]] except for committing ''shirk''. {{Citation needed|date=March 2018}} In practice, especially among strict conservative interpretations of Islam, the term has been greatly extended and means deification of anyone or anything other than the [[God in Islam|singular God]]. {{Citation needed|date=March 2018}} In Salafi-Wahhabi interpretation, it may be used very widely to describe behaviour that does not literally constitute worship, including [[Aniconism in Islam|use of images of sentient beings]], building a structure over a grave, associating partners with God, giving his characteristics to others beside him, or not believing in his characteristics.{{Citation needed|date=November 2016}} 19th century Wahhabis regarded idolatry punishable with the death penalty, a practice that was "hitherto unknown" in Islam.<ref name="Valentine2014p47">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4omMCwAAQBAJ|title=Force and Fanaticism: Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia and Beyond|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-1-84904-464-6|pages=47–48|author=Simon Ross Valentine}}, Quote: "In reference to Wahhabi strictness in applying their moral code, Corancez writes that the distinguishing feature of the Wahhabis was their intolerance, which they pursued to hitherto unknown extremes, holding idolatry as a crime punishable by death".</ref><ref name="Hawting1999p1">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mh134wJLwkIC|title=The Idea of Idolatry and the Emergence of Islam: From Polemic to History|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1999|isbn=978-1-139-42635-0|pages=1–6, 80–86|author=G. R. Hawting}}</ref> However, Classical Orthodox Sunni thought used to be rich in Relics and Saint veneration, as well as pilgrimage to their shrines. Ibn Taymiyya, a medieval theologian that influenced modern days Salafists, was put in prison for his negation of veneration of relics and Saints, as well as pilgrimage to Shrines, which was considered unorthodox by his contemporary theologians. [[File:Hajj.ogg|thumb|right|The [[Kaaba]] during [[Hajj]]]] According to Islamic tradition, over the millennia after [[Ishmael]]'s death, his progeny and the local tribes who settled around the [[Zamzam Well|oasis of Zam-Zam]] gradually turned to polytheism and idolatry. Several idols were placed within the [[Kaaba]] representing deities of different aspects of nature and different tribes. Several heretical rituals were adopted in the Pilgrimage (''[[Hajj]]'') including doing naked circumambulation.<ref name="Ishaq2">{{Cite book | last = Ibn Ishaq | first = Muhammad | title = Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah – The Life of Muhammad Translated by A. Guillaume | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford | pages = 88–9 | date = 1955 | url = https://archive.org/stream/TheLifeOfMohammedGuillaume/The_Life_Of_Mohammed_Guillaume#page/n67/mode/1up | isbn =9780196360331 }}</ref> In her book, ''Islam: A Short History'', [[Karen Armstrong]] asserts that the Kaaba was officially dedicated to [[Hubal]], a [[Nabatean]] deity, and contained 360 idols that probably represented the days of the year.<ref name=armstrong/> But by Muhammad's day, it seems that the Kaaba was venerated as the shrine of [[Allah]], the High God. Allah was never represented by an idol.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e128|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151219070127/http://oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e128|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 December 2015|title=Allah – Oxford Islamic Studies Online|website=www.oxfordislamicstudies.com|language=en|access-date=2018-08-25|quote=Only god in Mecca not represented by idol.}}</ref> Once a year, tribes from all around the Arabian peninsula, whether Christian or pagan, would converge on Mecca to perform the ''Hajj'', marking the widespread conviction that Allah was the same deity worshipped by monotheists.<ref name=armstrong>{{cite book|pages=11|title=Islam: A Short History|author=Karen Armstrong|isbn=978-0-8129-6618-3|date=2002|publisher=Random House Publishing }}</ref> Guillaume in his translation of [[Ibn Ishaq]], an early biographer of Muhammad, says the Ka'aba might have been itself addressed using a feminine grammatical form by the Quraysh.<ref name="Ishaq">{{Cite book | last = Ibn Ishaq | first = Muhammad | title = Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah – The Life of Muhammad Translated by A. Guillaume. ''The text reads "O God, do not be afraid", the second footnote reads "The feminine form indicates the Ka'ba itself is addressed"'' | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford | page = 85 footnote 2 | date = 1955 | url = https://archive.org/stream/TheLifeOfMohammedGuillaume/The_Life_Of_Mohammed_Guillaume#page/n65/mode/1up | isbn =9780196360331 }}</ref> Circumambulation was often performed naked by men and almost naked by women.<ref name="Ishaq2"/> It is disputed whether al-Lat and Hubal were the same deity or different. Per a hypothesis by [[Uri Rubin]] and Christian Robin, Hubal was only venerated by Quraysh and the Kaaba was first dedicated to [[al-Lat]] , a supreme god of individuals belonging to different tribes, while the pantheon of the gods of Quraysh was installed in Kaaba after they conquered Mecca a century before Muhammad's time.<ref>{{cite book|author=Christian Julien Robin|title=Arabia and Ethiopia. In The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GKRybwb17WMC&pg=PA304|year=2012|publisher=OUP USA|pages=304–305|isbn=9780195336931}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page