Harley, you've gotten to "know" me fairly well here. Do you honestly think that the icons I have in my home and office are idols?
(Not that I necessarily intend to do so; I just would like to see some images.)
No.
Do I think the distinction made within Catholic/Orthodox on veneration of saints verse veneration to God leads to idolotry? Yes, and there is ample evidence to this.
I can find only a hair-breathe difference in Catholic doctrine that distinguishes between venerating to saints and to God. Great pains are made to distance the two when there really is no substantial differences.
All the fuss and expense that goes into these manmade things is far more than history. The true mark of an idol in my mind is whether to revere an object or you don't. A case in point is the return of the Black Madonna to Polland which I believe we discussed on another thread. Heck, let mold grow in a NJ tunnel in the likeness of Mary and see the flowers and tributes.
Some people may think this is an "intellectually" correct policy of the Church to "revere" these objects. They claim it's really not worshipping them even when provided countless examples and illustrations of people bowing down to mold on a wall or even an artifact. I'm afraid I simply don't see the distinction after looking through the Church's records on this no matter how "pious" I may appear. There is only one place in scripture where someone "prayed" to the dead and that was Saul calling up Samuel to intercede for him before God. We know the outcome of that.