“Idol Worship” Within The Igbo Spiritual System.

Anyone with a zeal to understand the origin of things and why things are structured in a certain way would come to the realization that no matter how Christians try to separate themselves from paganism, Christian history says otherwise, and some of their ritualistic practices say otherwise.
This is one reason why, when a traditionalist sees an African Christian kneeling before the statue of the virgin Mary, he laughs and teases, that a full-fledged African is begging a bag of cement for favors, and when a Christian sees a traditionalist’s arm stretched before an effigy, he teases that such idol is simply wood and cannot speak or hear, which for the most part is true, but all these names calling and condescension are simply distractions and are inconsequential.
Nonetheless, what is the Igbo perception of these effigies?
The use of effigies “Idols” as a tool for cosmic representation is mostly found within Anambra regions and in Enugu most communities there do not consecrate their cosmic forces within any effigy, but generally, we as ndi-Igbo believe In representing cosmic forces that we are interacting with within effigies in other to make sense of the existence.
These effigies, therefore become conduits, channels, or bridges that connect us to these unseen forces.Therefore, we do not venerate those effigies, but what they represent. This is why a shrine can be moved, dismantled, and rebuilt in another location, and at the same time, this proves that burning a shrine does not destroy energies or forces that govern.
This brings me to my final point, when Igbo-Christians want to make a case that our ancestors worshipped woods and trees that can be burned, their attempt at discrediting this indigenous belief is thwarted because we know that every single item in a church can be burnt as well and like I always say, modernization would be the death of belief systems that place itself above other belief system.