For millennia, Jews have been obsessed with the danger of idols. Monotheism was born in the Chaldean back room where Abraham smashed his father’s figurines, men and women of clay whose favor was courted by those of flesh and blood.
The Bible warns endlessly of idolatry, and its anxious denunciations testify to both the danger and enduring temptation of mindless obedience to wood and stone. Bowing and praying to neon gods that you make yourself is just another strategy for self-worship.
