Well, no one else kneels before the image and asks the image to do something for them. Do I think they were worshiping images? NO You seem to have made an assumption that the man in the graveyard was praying rather than just contemplating the life of the deceased and missing that person. You said those kids sitting on the floor listening to a speaker were kneeling. You comparisons were not what you had hoped I’m thinking. And now your understanding of what I meant is in total error as well.
No Catholic kneels before an image and asks the image to do something for them.
Now, to make myself clear, the Catholic doctrine forbids adoration of statues, images, or of any being or person other than Almighty God. The same goes for all other Christian denominations of which I am aware.
All of us believe n adoration of the Creatror alone; never the creature. Any assertion to the contrary is based on ignorance ---I hope. No Christians are polytheist: I suppose that's a tautology, since it is implied in the definition of Christian.
I am at a lost how to explain the very, very small subset of people on FR who don't get this; who misinterpret all of the common forms of religious veneration found in the Bible, as adoration. I assume you understand the difference between the two, as they occur so frequently in the Bible --- Abigail prostrating to David; David bowing to the Temple; Solomon bowing low to Bathsheba --- and yet you continue to misinterpret them when done by Christians, after it has been explained to them exhaustively. ("Exhaustively" --- THAT is the word.
So I must close my portion of the discussion, on which I have probably spent too much time.
If my toast is now blackened --- OK, it's a burnt offering. Good day to you and to all.
BTW, I m having a computer screen problem --- letters displayed almost illegibly --- so this may or may not signal the end of my FR activity for awhile, unless my husband figures out how to fix it! If you're a praying person, pray :o)