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Mary is not a god or a goddess. She is considered a creature -- ask any Catholic from the simplest in the Philippines to the most erudite. She is a created being as attested by the doctrine as captured in Scripture and enunciated in the catechism.

Could have fooled me. Here. Mebbe some pictures:

This is *not* an idol:

This *IS* an idol:

Exo 20:1 And God spake all these words, saying,
Exo 20:2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Exo 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Exo 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Exo 20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

I know, I know... It just looks like worship. Betcha Shadrach, Mishach, and Abednego could have used that kind of thinking. Those pinheads that stacked up idols in God's own Temple prolly used the same sort of reasoning... NO Way, Dude.

And yes, I get that it is only "veneration," which is honor, not worship... But that doesn't cut it neither... ALL Glory, ALL Laud, ALL Honor belongs to Jehovah, and to the Redeemer King.

*Sigh*... And we were having such a pleasant little argument...