Does anyone actually worship statues?

Question

This is for Catholics or Hindus or followers of any religion that uses statues.
Does anyone actually worship the statue or do they use the statue only to symbolize the thing that they worship?

I'm asking cause I heard that religions that use statues to symbolize their saints or gods 'worship' the statues but I suspect that is BS used by protestant christians to denegrate Catholicism and by followers of the monotheistic religions to denegreate followers of polytheistic religions.

What do you think?

Thanks for the clarification Robin.
I did not mean to say that Catholics even worshiped what the statues represent--I was just talking about the use of statues. I'm afraid my question did come accross that way--I was having a bit of trouble figuring out how to word it so that it would be understood as a question about all religions that use statues, not just about catholic christianity vs protestant christianity.

So I apologise.

Answer 1

While the symbols, in and of themselves, are considered "holy" it is what they represent that is worshiped in all religions. The christian church is really no different, almost all christian churches have a cross if not a crucifix as a central part of their decor. Just see what response you would get if you "defiled" it in some manner.

Answer 2

I am Catholic, and I ascertain that we are NOT worshipping the statues.

In fact, we're not even worshipping what the statues represent, usually. Most are of Mary and the saints, and while they are honored, they are not worshipped.

Answer 3

Many people around the world do. You might of seen the footage of the people of Iraq tearing down the statue of Sadam Husain. The reason they were tearing it down was because during his regime, they were forced to worship that statue.

Answer 4

I am a Catholic, and no we do not worship statues. We just have them as reminders of God's sacrificial love for us (crucifixes) and of our brothers and sisters in the faith who have gone on to love and serve God in heaven (saints). We only worship God.

I do have some tolerance because I understand their claims are based on ignorance. They don't hate us for who we are, just who they think we are.

Answer 5

No. No more than Christians who have a cross on their wall worship that cross. It is a mere representation... a point of focus for the worshipper.

Answer 6

Yes.
My wife

No, really.

She loves me.
And when I get home from work and call out "Hello"
she calls back - "Stat You?"

Answer 7

Worship is only for God.

Prayer (asking) can be directed to anyone (alive and dead).

Art:
"2500 The practice of goodness is accompanied by spontaneous spiritual joy and moral beauty. Likewise, truth carries with it the joy and splendor of spiritual beauty. Truth is beautiful in itself. Truth in words, the rational expression of the knowledge of created and uncreated reality, is necessary to man, who is endowed with intellect. But truth can also find other complementary forms of human expression, above all when it is a matter of evoking what is beyond words: the depths of the human heart, the exaltations of the soul, the mystery of God. Even before revealing himself to man in words of truth, God reveals himself to him through the universal language of creation, the work of his Word, of his wisdom: the order and harmony of the cosmos-which both the child and the scientist discover-"from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator," "for the author of beauty created them."

[Wisdom] is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her. For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness. For [wisdom] is more beautiful than the sun, and excels every constellation of the stars. Compared with the light she is found to be superior, for it is succeeded by the night, but against wisdom evil does not prevail. I became enamored of her beauty.

2501 Created "in the image of God," man also expresses the truth of his relationship with God the Creator by the beauty of his artistic works. Indeed, art is a distinctively human form of expression; beyond the search for the necessities of life which is common to all living creatures, art is a freely given superabundance of the human being's inner riches. Arising from talent given by the Creator and from man's own effort, art is a form of practical wisdom, uniting knowledge and skill , to give form to the truth of reality in a language accessible to sight or hearing. To the extent that it is inspired by truth and love of beings, art bears a certain likeness to God's activity in what he has created. Like any other human activity, art is not an absolute end in itself, but is ordered to and ennobled by the ultimate end of man.

2502 Sacred art is true and beautiful when its form corresponds to its particular vocation: evoking and glorifying, in faith and adoration, the transcendent mystery of God - the surpassing invisible beauty of truth and love visible in Christ, who "reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature," in whom "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily." < Heb 1:3, Col 2:9> This spiritual beauty of God is reflected in the most holy Virgin Mother of God, the angels, and saints. Genuine sacred art draws man to adoration, to prayer, and to the love of God, Creator and Savior, the Holy One and Sanctifier."

Answer 8

i worship statues.

Answer 9

yea some popel do

Answer 10

yeah my statue talks back to me...doesn't yours?