The vicious downward cycle of idolatry is that we construct gods in our own image that decay at a rate faster than we do. In worshiping them, we become like them through imitation, complacency, and decay. Then, the next round of idol making is more decadent than the one before and on and on until we are worshiping debauchery, violence, and human ugliness as well as our own self-interests. That is why each generation (and more often than that) of God-fearers, must check in with its roots of faith and with the God who roots faith to renew authenticity and ask hard questions about its forms, rituals, and assumptions. The "old time religion" is what we need — as long as it is OLD ENOUGH and not just built on the errors of the interim-past.