The Issue of Idolatry in Abrahamic Religions

[Leonardo17]

The republic does become an idol for some people, where nationalistic paraphernalia gains function beyond it's practical or aesthetic use and becomes a focus for worship and signaling.  I wouldn't spend to much time flirting with the idea that god is just an idea in the company of islamists.  Not because I think it has no merit - I think that's exactly what gods are and what gives theistic religions the ability to manifest consequences in reality.  But for reasons of murder.  Combine those two, national and religious idols - and you get mujahideen.  Every nation and every religion has them.  It's not a bug, it's a feature.  It gives them a chip to bargain with both within their societies and outside of their societies.  Whether that comes in the form of intersectional (para)military support, or in dissident action to establish a perpetual minority rule under threat of death or damage to infrastructure.

That leads me handily into how I would explain any orthodox attempt to end democracy.  An abrahamic fundamentalist doesn't believe in democracy from the word go.  That's not how they think the world works, or even should work.  God isn't just an idea, he's The Man..and he makes The Rules...and this is the right and proper way to organize society.  The developed world is leaning into nationalism and authoritarianism in general - even outside of the religiously concerned™.  That zionists might be produced in these circumstances who are willing to both strangle democracy in their own society and utterly disenfranchise..say..palestinians....is like a clock ticking from one second to the next.

FWIW - you don't seem, to me, like you're in the same zipcode.  Your own magic book idolatry is probably just a latent effect of an islamic upbringing.  Background noise - not doing much of anything but making you seem confused and propagandized to an outsider.

Second paragraph:
 
You should read my last post in “Earth’s recent climate spiral 2.0”. You already know that my approach to spirituality is different from those who have a more traditional approach. So everyone is free to join whichever camp they want. If you are fear-based and have a limited understanding of things you can go there. And if you like new ideas and like to explore and experiment new ideas that can change the world as it is today you can come here.
 
But the issue is this. As people in the second camp we all agree that we as human beings have a destructive / fear-based entity in us called “the ego”. That ego needs limits. If it goes unchecked, it has the potential to turn even the most intelligent / creative people among us into complete monkeys (See Elon Musk for instance).
 
The philosophers of enlightenment were aware of this facts. So they created this ideal system in which all people were limited by the rule of law. All nations were limited by international law and “the Society of Nation” (or the UN in today’s terms). In which rulers were elected and all of them had limited powers so that we no longer have to rely on the “goodness” of a King that is appointed by God. But by representatives whose actions constantly being checked by bodies like the Supreme Court for instance.
 
If I understood correctly: The Israeli president Netanyahu wants greater presidential power by reducing to powers of the Israeli Supreme Court. And that’s why everybody in on the street.
 
Yet those who are in the first camp (bigots, fundamentalists, conservatives, whatever) these guys want that change to happen. If it was up to them, a monarchy or a “Hebrew Republic” would do.
 
And again: That’s what the ego does. It has this ability to make you perceive one thing as something else. And that’s the core of most true spiritual teachings.
 
And the ego likes idols. That’s because it perceives a true connection with God as a threat to its own hegemony over us.
 
So these are deeper subjects. But these are known in all major religious teachings. To people like me seemingly mumbo-jumbo stories in the Bible (for instance) are allegoric stories that are pointing to these deeper spiritual realities.
 
Yet, I don’t expect everyone to understand them. As I said, not knowing (or not being interested) is in most cases simply better than being misguided by some interpretation of religious texts claiming to be the only true / possible interpretation of it.