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I'm pinging in some Protestant members whose views I respect (red, rokke, take a bow!)

LOL! Since I consider myself a blooming idiot on many things with the Faith, that is high praise!

I tend to avoid discussions on Icons for many reasons, mainly to do with the infamous Icon thread that brought us the Religion Mod a few years ago! But I will tell you what I have been taught and what I believe.

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with icons. I personally like crucifixes, pictures of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, icons of the Prophets of the Old Testament, etc. They can be a great way to instruct people (most are very visual), and to be honest most of the hymns that I so love to sing could rightly be called "verbal icons".

The danger lies in those, who through ignorance or misunderstanding, start to view the icons themselves as a short of divine thing. I am not very comfortable praying before any statue, because of that danger. While not condoned, I have personally known a few who really believe that unless you pray before a statue of Mary, you will be condemned.

Now I know that no Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or Anglican has ever proclaimed that to be good doctrine, but such things are out there. Those who are knowledgeable about their faith and view icons as depictions of those who have gone before us can use icons in the manner they were intended to be. To aid in the worship of God and to meditate on the example of those who have gone before us to Glory. Those who are badly taught or perhaps still semi pagan can tend to view icons as short of a demi god.

In short, while I probably won't kneel in front of an icon (my knees and back hurt to much to kneel all that much), I won't begrudge those that do. But I sometimes feel that the distinction between the object of plaster and wood and the actual thing can get lost.

I'll second redgolum's comments regarding my usefulness in any of these discussions. But regarding icons...considering the Christmas tree and the words "Merry Christmas" seem to have taken on iconic status lately among people decrying the "assault" on Christmas, I think it is a little hypocritical for anyone to spend too much time criticizing Orthodox believers for venerating icons. Having said that, while it is true neither Catholic nor Orthodox doctrine teaches idol worship, something has gotten lost in the translation for some believers over time, because I have personally witnessed what can only be described as worship of statues and shrines of saints. You can try to wordsmith it all you want, but when you genuflect in front of a statue of a man, or bury that statue in your front yard for good luck, you are worshiping something other than God. And despite Kosta50's overly defensive and sadly immature attacks on "Protestors" it is clear that not a single Christian faith is void of practitioners of that faith that haven't misunderstood the basic doctrines of that faith. Of course, that just validates the opinion of LibreOuMort when he said "What is happening on this thread is precisely the reason I decline to discuss religion with doctrinocrats." Nothing like arguing about what divides us to obliterate any focus on what unites us.