Religious Symbols Quote

"Religious symbols point symbolically to that which transcends all of them. But since, as symbols, they participate in that to which they pint, they always have the tendency (in the human mind, of course) to replace that to which they are supposed to point, and to become ultimate in themselves. And in the moment in which they do this, they become idols."

- Paul Tillich in "Religious Language as Symbolic" on page 438 of Philosophy of Religion: Selected Readings (Third Edition).

Note: I am not a big fan of Tillich, but this is a good quote to consider.

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