Brenda Boyle,. age 15, of Henderson, Nev., for her question:

WHAT IS IDOLATRY?

The term idolatry means the worship of idols. In most cases, however, people pray and make offerings through idols rather than to them. In idol is an image of a god or some other sacred being. The word idol has come to be connected with the worship of many gods.

The Old Testament forbids Jews to make any image that might be worshipped as God. Also in the area of idolatry, Islamic tradition prohibits artists from making human or animal figures, but they usually obey this rule only in decorating mosques.

Images are used in the Hindu and Buddhist religions and in some forms of Christianity, but they are not worshipped as idols.

Idols are often found in societies that have developed some degree of civilization. Indians of some of the highly developed cultures of Mexico and South America had idols. In many Polynesian islands of the South Pacific, islanders make idols of stone or wood to represent important gods. Idols were also common in the early civilizations of Egypt, India, Greece and Rome.

Icons are a form of image. Iconoclasts oppose the use of images.