You are, of course, correct about the idols, Steve. I mention this in my book as well. Sorry if I wasn't clear in the article.

The object, statue, image, whatever was not what the Pagans worshipped. Christianity tries to say this nonsense all the time, like these people are worshipping an object or a "thing".

The reality is, as you say, the object merely represents the god being venerated within the cosmos. The object itself is not the "god". Just like Christians will pray before a statue or image of Jesus, or a cross, the object or image is not actually the "god".

I remember being mis-taught this in Sunday School growing up. It was just another lie told by the Church to make other religions look foolish when they themselves were doing the exact same thing as the Pagans they derided.

Good point abut Eucharist too. How anyone could think that any Jew would engage in such Pagan behavior is beyond me now; but as Christians, we are not taught Judaic customs, on purpose. Otherwise we might suddenly recognize that the Church is lying to us about who the real Yeshua truly was.