What's the difference between idolatry and polytheism?

Idolatry


Definition:

  • (n.) The worship of idols, images, or anything which is not God; the worship of false gods.
  • (n.) Excessive attachment or veneration for anything; respect or love which borders on adoration.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Perhaps inevitably, their comments gives the film an air of hagiography bordering on idolatry, or even theology – at one point Hana Ali speaks of her mother, Porche, “seeing God in his eyes”.
  • (2) Focusing on glorifying and eternalising the leaders and taking refuge in God and inserting them into hidden shirk [idolatry] through immortalising ephemeral, temporary personalities.
  • (3) How the ancient city of Palmyra looked before the fighting – in pictures Read more Isis considers the preservation of such historical ruins a form of idolatry and has destroyed temples and historic artefacts, as well as ancient Assyrian sites in Nineveh in Iraq, after conquering the province in a lightning offensive last year.
  • (4) Vilks' cartoon caused outrage because dogs are considered unclean by conservative Muslims, and Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet for fear it could lead to idolatry.
  • (5) He rejected what he saw as pagan accretions introduced by bid’a (innovation) and shirk (idolatry or polytheism), which detracts from the absolute transcendence of God.
  • (6) Peckham's main difficulty in writing a script, he found, was to do justice to such a familiar and beloved figure without tipping into idolatry.
  • (7) Isis considers the preservation of such historical ruins a form of idolatry and has destroyed temples and historic artefacts, as well as ancient Assyrian sites in Nineveh in Iraq, after conquering the province in a lightning offensive last year.
  • (8) Among the many accusations levelled at the medieval Knights Templar to justify the brutal suppression of the order was that of idolatry.
  • (9) So it is difficult for many people to understand why for Muslims, especially in the Sunni traditions, such depictions are anathema, as idolatry.
  • (10) His alleged crimes included representing Syria at “infidel conferences”, serving as “the director of idolatry” in Palmyra, visiting Iran to commemorate the anniversary of the “Khomeini revolution” and communicating with Syrian military officers, including his brother Col Issa al-Asaadin.
  • (11) K-pop idolatry is played out daily on the streets of Shin-Okubo, a Tokyo neighbourhood packed with Korean restaurants and shops selling K-pop paraphernalia.
  • (12) But we were wrong not to discourage the idolatry on the left.
  • (13) Dogs are considered unclean by conservative Muslims, and Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet for fear it could lead to idolatry.
  • (14) Its puritanical interpretation of Islam deems them a form of heresy and idolatry.
  • (15) Those who understood him admired him to the point of idolatry but he was also considered as the supreme egotist not giving an inch in discussions and overriding many of his colleagues, making enemies of them as he went and then deeming himself greatly wronged by lack of recognition.
  • (16) It looks as if the notoriously prudish Ruskin, who worshipped Turner to the point of idolatry, couldn't actually bring himself to destroy his work.
  • (17) The extremists condemned the buildings as totems of idolatry.
  • (18) Maybe that’s what Saudi Arabia’s mufti fears | Stephen Moss Read more Sheikh justified the ruling by referring to the verse in the Qur’an banning “intoxicants, gambling, idolatry and divination”.
  • (19) But what always made me uncomfortable – then, in 2008; now, in 2016 – was the idolatry that followed him.
  • (20) Indeed, if he wasn't so authentically loved, such idolatry could look North Korean.

Polytheism


Definition:

  • (n.) The doctrine of, or belief in, a plurality of gods.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) He rejected what he saw as pagan accretions introduced by bid’a (innovation) and shirk (idolatry or polytheism), which detracts from the absolute transcendence of God.