Yeah, that's how you know most people in the Hebrew world were involved in the practice. No point in telling people to not do something they are already not doing. My point is that people with a religious axe to grind often deliberately misrepresent what most Hebrew people were doing at the time.
What the pastor is saying is accurate.
Stating that God was married to another deity named Asherah and condemning King Josiah for tearing down the Asherah poles, etc. is not accurate Christian doctrine.