Idolatry

Idolatry, worship of a material image that is held to be the abode of a superhuman personality. The practice is common among primitive peoples and was also a characteristic of such great ancient civilizations as the Chaldean (Babylonian), Egyptian, Greek, Indian, and Roman. Worship of idols appears to be one phase or aspect of religious evolution, akin to nature worship; the adoration of personified objects; and animism, or belief in spirits embodied in material things. Associated with idols, which are the object of public worship, are personal or domestic fetishes for private veneration. Worship of the dead is also related to idolatry, and the idea that after death the spirit continues in the body or in some relic gave rise to the practice of placing a statue of the dead person in or beside his or her grave. The influence of the Babylonian and Egyptian cultures led to the acceptance of idol worship by the nations of Palestine until the teachings of the Hebrew prophets forced the total abandonment of the idols. Islam forbids the making of a representation of any living thing, whether or not it is intended to be worshipped. In Christianity, the limited reverence of images, in which the separate, divine personality is addressed through an image, was defined by the second Council of Nicaea in 787 so as not to be confused with, or lead to, idolatry.