What is idolatry and how is it defined by different religions from a theological viewpoint? Put simply, idolatry is the worship of idols. According to the Bible, worshiping "graven images" (as in the example of the golden calf) is forbidden. Some also expand the definition to include worship of other people besides God (which makes sense, someone might say a celebrity is their "idol" but they don't usually mean they actually worship them).
History lesson time: Do you know what some of the main causes were which lead to the Great Schism (the split between the Church in the East and West, causing it to form the Roman Catholic and Eastern/Greek/Byzantine Orthodox churches)? Two of them were idolatry and iconoclasm, which is using religious icons depicting Christ or other religious figures. Ironically, at that point, it was the Roman Catholic Church that had a problem with the iconoclasm in the East whereas the Byzantines were defending the use of religious imagery and statues. Later on and today, many Protestant denominations have a problem with the Roman Catholic Church's supposed idolatry and iconoclasm.
A few years ago I had a conversation with a Protestant friend about idolatry and the veneration of Mary in the Catholic Church which I was reminded about today because of a post I saw online. Apparently, many Protestants have an issue with what they perceive to be idolatry in the Catholic Church. The main concerns I've heard are that 1. Catholics pray directly to Mary which is a form of worship that should be reserved only for God, 2. Catholics pray directly to the Saints and Angels, again a form of worship which should only be reserved for God, 3. The idea of venerating certain dead Catholics as "saints" goes against the Bible, 4. The Church hierarchy and role given to the Pope goes against the Bible and makes him an idol, and 5. Many of the stories and feast days regarding saints and icons of Mary are based on earlier pagan traditions.
I can understand their cause for concern. Perhaps, if I too viewed religion as "you can only ever acknowledge this one deity and pray to him alone or you'll go to hell," I'd view it the same way. However, as I'm sure you can tell by now, those aren't my views. I also don't think that's what Catholics are doing anyway. Catholics look to Mary, the Saints, and the Angels, as those who are in heaven and who have the access to and trust of God, and therefore they should be looked up to as examples and can intervene on our behalf.
I'm going to use the example of Mary here since that's what the discussion with my friend was mostly about. One of the most well known and common Catholic ways to venerate Mary would be the Rosary. The Rosary starts with the Apostle's Creed, a creed stating that they believe in one God and Jesus is the son of God and God himself, followed by the Our Father, again a prayer directly to God. These prayers are stated before any of the many Hail Mary prayers begin. Then let's take a look at the Hail Mary. "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee." Simply stating that she is full of grace, as Christians believe God's grace is a gift to us all, and that the Lord is with her, not the same thing as her. "Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus." There's biblical evidence for her being blessed among women, chosen by God, and acknowledging here that she is the mother of God's human person of Jesus. The phrase "among women" again reiterates that she is a woman, just like us. She may be blessed among women, but she is still a woman, not a goddess. "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death." Again, referring to her as the mother of God, not god herself, and asking her to "pray for us" rather than praying to her. After each decade of Hail Mary prayers, you follow with the Fatima prayer directly to Jesus, "Oh my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, and lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of your mercy." and the Glory Be, which gives glory to the Trinity alone. Finally, at the end of the Rosary, you say the Hail Holy Queen, which again asks Mary to pray for us so that we can be made worthy of the promises of Christ. The Hail Mary is the prayer said most often during the Rosary by far, because saying the Rosary is asking Mary to intervene on our behalf. However, every mystery revolves around the life of Jesus and that is what we are supposed to me contemplating and meditating on during the Rosary. So while I personally don't even see it as a problem if we were "worshiping" Mary, I still do not in anyway believe that's what Catholics are doing when they say the Rosary. They aren't so much praying to her as they are talking to her and asking her to pray to God on our behalf and chanting a repetitive mantra to aid in their meditations on Jesus.
Then, to get back to the issue of iconoclasm, Catholics and Orthodox believers are no longer facing such accusations from each other or other Christians in great numbers. Even Protestants get involved in a fair amount of images today, although it was a bigger issue for earlier Protestants and certain denominations. However, other branches of the Abrahamic religions' family tree feel quite differently about it. For one example, let's look at Islam. Muslims are not supposed to have any images whatsoever of Allah or Muhammad. Meanwhile, in nearly all sects of Christianity you can find crucifixes with the image of Jesus on them or pictures of Jesus being spread around or hung in the house. With Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, the vast amount of famous paintings and sculptures are far greater, but nearly all Christians are involved in iconoclasm to some degree. With Judaism, you can't even speak or write the full name of God. And of course, neither Islam nor Judaism accept the doctrine of the Trinity, viewing it as polytheistic and blasphemous.
I can't sit here and honestly say that I don't think any of these other religions have a point or that the Roman Catholic Church doesn't occasionally cross a line when it comes to idolatry. For example, it always seemed like idolatry to me whenever the priest calls up his parishioners to kiss the cross during Holy Week at the end of Lent. The crucifix that hangs in a church is not really Jesus and kissing it definitely feels like a throwback to worshiping the golden calf. It's a man made object meant to decorate a church. It may represent God, but it isn't God itself. Why would Catholic priests encourage people to come up and kiss it?
Overall, however, I don't have any problem whatsoever with people praying to more than one deity or praying to those who have died, yet were shown to be the greatest followers of God. It's even less controversial when the prayers are actually just talking to those people and asking them for guidance or to pray to God themselves. I don't think that praying to Mary, the saints, and the angels, or asking them to pray on our behalf is idolatry and I don't think that having religious images is the same thing as worshiping those images, therefore making it different than true iconoclasm. There's only one thing that I can think of where the Catholic church seems to actually blur those lines and that is the kissing of the cross. Other than that one example, I seem to be standing again with the Catholic church here, at least on this one individual issue.
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