Nice post, EC. It brought to mind a passage written by a countryman of yours, C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity. I think the point you're making is similar to his, in that we humans (all of us) can be intemperate (or idolatrous) about a great variety of things ... not just the more 'obvious' ones.
Now without further ado, here is Mr Lewis on the virtue of Temperance:
One great piece of mischief has been done by the modern restriction of the word Temperance to the question of drink. It helps people to forget that you can be just as intemperate about lots of other things. A man who makes his golf or his motor-bicycle the centre of his life, or a woman who devotes all her thoughts to clothes or bridge or her dog, is being just as ‘intemperate’ as someone who gets drunk every evening. Of course, it does not show on the outside so easily: bridge-mania or golf-mania do not make you fall down in the middle of the road. But God is not deceived by externals.
I do love reading C. S. Lewis, though Mere Christainity is not one I have yet read. It is on the bookshelf, but not yet read it, to my shame.
He was a perfect combination of artistry and clarity when he wrote. He knew God and walked the path. Explained the path too.
One of the things he wrote - from The Screwtape Letters - is something I always bear in mind.
To paraphrase (I am behind on work, typing on my phone and can’t look up the exact quote right now):
If your mortal must go to church, make him shop around. Concentrate his mind on the usher’s squeaky shoes, or the deacon being the grocer who gives short weight during the week.
There is One Truth. God Is. Yeah, I left the customary 3rd word off.
There is one Washington D.C too. But there are a heck of a lot of roads you can take to get to Washington. Lot of roads to the One Truth too.
Some use a fast path. Some use a winding path. It still gets us all there. And none can say their path is better, merely better for them.