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Moses Indignant at the Golden Calf, painting by William Blake, 1799–1800. Idolatry is the worship of an idol as though it were a deity. [1] [2] [3] In Abrahamic religions (namely Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, the Baháʼí Faith, and Islam) idolatry connotes the worship of something or someone other than the Abrahamic God as if it were God.
The use of religious images has often been a contentious issue in Christian history. Concern over idolatry is the driving force behind the various traditions of aniconism in Christianity. In the early Church, Christians used the Ichthys (fish) symbol to identify Christian places of worship and Christian homes. [1]
Iconolatry (Greek: εἰκών, eikon, 'picture or image', + λατρεία, latreia, 'veritable (full) worship or adoration') designates the idolatric worship or the adoration of icons. In the history of Christianity , iconolatry was mainly manifested in popular worship, as freedom of worship while others viewed it as superstitious belief in ...
In Legends of the Jews, the Conservative rabbi and scholar Louis Ginzberg wrote that the worship of the golden calf was the disastrous consequence for Israel who took a mixed multitude in their exodus from Egypt. Had not the mixed multitude joined them, Israel would not have been misled to worship this molten idol.
It is a striking fact that when painting and sculpture first began to infiltrate Christian assembly rooms and cemeteries they did so practically unheeded by either opponents of or apologists for Christianity—engaged though these were in passionate disputes over idols and idolatry.
Christian images that are venerated are called icons. Christians who venerate icons make an emphatic distinction between "veneration" and "worship". Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians make an exception for the veneration of images of saints – they distinguish such veneration from adoration or latria.
Christian symbolism is the use of symbols, including archetypes, acts, artwork or events, ... rejecting the claim by detractors that Christians worship the cross. [2]
The early Christians, like the early Jews, were vehemently opposed to astrology, even attributing it to demonic origin. The Church Fathers were willing to impose strong sanctions against astrology to protect their flocks. In A.D. 120, the noted mathematician Aquila Ponticus was excommunicated from the Church at Rome for astrological heresies. [1]