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There's no basis for it except a tradition that developed within the church (in my opinion, at least) out of old goddess worshiping pagans who were brought into the faith.

If it is a tradition that developed within the Church, not as a nod to pagans, but by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, how would you know the difference?

Was there any authoritative body existent in the time Christ walked the earth that would have found for Jesus over the Pharisees when they claimed his disciples were "harvesting" on the Sabbath?

A plausible accusation does not prove the agreement of God.

The problem here is you will trust a book that can be twisted according to its own texts, but you will not trust the Church Jesus built because it does not square with your prejudice against doctrinal development.

Well, that's the rub, isn't it? I do feel I am under guidance by the Holy Spirit, and it's what tells me instinctively, in the gut, in my being, that the entire Mary thing is bunk. I'm talking a deep, visceral conviction that it's absolute rubbish made up whole cloth.

That, in fact, is the one thing that has kept me from "crossing the Tiber" even though I am equally dissatisfied with Protestantism at the moment.

Seriously, how can Mary "hear" all the "prayers" directed at her if she isn't omnipresent? It's ridiculous. And I've thought it through repeatedly - any attempt to get around the fact that Mary is only a human soul and cannot possibly interact simultaneously with potentially billions of human prayer "requests" ends up back at omnipresence no matter how you slice it. And that's ridiculous.

Not to mention, why on earth does anyone feel the need to put anyone in between themselves and Jesus when all you really need is Jesus (as Jesus himself says). It's illogical.