Being raised a Catholic, I can tell you that sometimes it's difficult to weed thru some of the Catholic church's customs to reach to the real message. The majority of my family (on my mother's side) are still Catholic. I understand the basic message, but part of the reason for me joining another church that is not Catholic was because of their strict desire to circumvent the bible itself. In other words, a lot of the customs and beliefs have zero to do with the Bible and lots more to do with politics IMO.

As to the subject of this discussion:

I feel people will cling to what ever life raft they find when they are sinking, even one that is leaking.

People see what they want to see. I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with it, until it turns into OCD behavoir. It would be nice if someone were to say, "look, that looks like Jesus on the cross in that tree....how neat." and move on. Problem comes in when "the" church investigates and turns it into a media frenzy or a shrine is where I draw the line. Idiolotry is another form of blasphemy IMO.

Look at a rainbow and smile because you know what it means. Enjoy a day like yesterday, where it was easy to see what beauty really is and where it comes from. Be kind to someone in need when everyone else isn't. Those to me are more signs of God to me than a window with a little extra windex on it.