>> ... but that stone worship was specifically rejected by the church and not absorbed into Christianity.
should read "but that stone worship was specifically rejected by the <i>Roman</i> church and not absorbed into Christianity."
The Irish church, which very nearly became the norm instead of the Roman, did consume stones and the Irish version of Catholicism today still does. Bullaun stones in particular are a big part of Xtian sites. All over Ireland there are stones dedicated to various saints - but usually the big two: Brigit and Patrick. So-called <i>Celtic Christianity</i> actually reached far into Europe and it wasn't until C12 that Rome started to truly dominate. The Pontif may have been against stones as idols, but that only represeented two thirds of the church in C7-C12 Europe. Irish monasteries, practicing the Irish varaiety of Christianity, were spread as far as Austria and even dominated soem regions of France and what is now Germany.
Unfortunately, the Roman Catholic propaganda machine has done much to destroy the history and true power of their early rivals, so we can only quote the words of the Roman church from that period, which is a real shame and makes most arguments very unbalanced and unrealistic.
