Are Catholics idol worshippers?

Well, this was a question that haunted me for long. Even today I don’t kiss a statue or image of Jesus or Mother Mary or any Saints, or even cross, may it be at church or at home. But I would like to differ on the view that it’s wrong to have images or statues. To understand this one must realize what an idol is. Of course few Catholics are wrong, I agree, who thinks that the image or statue itself is God. But we cannot term keeping those things is idol worship.

I am a person who avoids any kind of image or religious statues. And I always try to avoid the use of it. Though as a kid I used to run behind such things, I kept a distance from it as I grew up. One of the reasons was I felt that if I show myself as a Christian to others through symbols that I use, then I need to live up to their expectation. So not using it gives me the freedom to do anything. Another reason why I kept away from it is cus most of my friends were non-Christians and I never wanted to create a barrier of religion between us. Also, I never wanted to wear any sort of fashion related or ornamental things, to avoid a show-off (though I'm fashion savvy) and preferred to be natural, that being one of the reasons why I don’t even wear a watch if I’m not wearing a full sleeve dress.

I even kept away from religious stickers even on my bike. Yet I’ve got two rosaries around the handle that are not that visible. You might wonder why two rosaries. One was put around the handle by my brother. Since it was broken, and as I felt it’s not that good looking, I went for another one made of olive wood (Geez, jus cus of my quality consciousness), and I didn’t want to remove the first one as a sign of my love towards my brother. And recently I designed a cross and got a sticker done on my bike, and that was jus another creative idea that cropped up in my head that made me do it.

Few days since I got the mail on this query I was trying to find an answer to this. It was then that this thing came to my mind. I can clearly say that this image of cross on my bike has influenced me to some extent. As I’m a person who is very short tempered, though everyone in this world think otherwise, I cannot help staring or cursing (in my mind) the other person if something goes wrong while driving my bike, if it is not my fault. And it’s only by God’s grace that I never ever quarrelled with anyone so far. And once I got the sticker of the cross done on my bike, every time I encounter such events, though after a split second, I somehow manage to give a smile to the other person and not curse. I don’t intend to say that it’s the power of the cross that helps me do it. But I can tell you for sure that it’s the awareness that I have in my mind that if I show an angry face, with the cross in front of me that shows I’m a Christian, I’ll only be ending up having the other person curse me and my God.

What I mean to say is that having a symbol, statue or image will help enhance one’s way of thinking to some extent. It just keeps reminding of faith and allegiance. Few people have images of their parents or grandparents painted to keep in remembrance. But no one ever think that is the real person. And so is the images and statues that we see in church. And not every one kiss a statue thinking it as God. In that case it’s not an idol worship. But if someone thinks that those images or statues are Gods and that it has got some kind of power, then that is sheer idol worship and we need to discourage it.