Post #326462 by Formikahini on Sat, Aug 18, 2007 7:59 PM

Quoting myself here from an ancient thread here dealing with this question:

"I purposefully avoid "genuine" artifacts, and have only poly pop items in my home. I think the real deal pieces are beautiful, historical, and meaningful - but quite possibly meaningful in a way that I don't want to promote. I'll let somebody else have those. (I don't think anyone ever worshipped my El Bastardo mug.)

"A friend of mine, when her father died, chose to sell off the pieces of his vast pre-Colombian collection that were involved in sacrifice, especially that of children. She kept her favorite pieces, all of which were without religious significance. She also happens to have been a missionary in the Phillipines for decades (and did not go around burning idols, etc., I might add). I bought some of the non-religious items myself.

"That's my way of dealing with my beliefs and my hobby."

And I've made jokes before on here about how the only thing sacrified to my tikis/mugs are some brain cells.

I guess the trick is, is your MIL able to separate out real stuff from play stuff? I know some Christians believe that demons can "attach" themselves to objects that have been used for, well, demonic purposes (like child sacrifice). But just because a knife was used by some ancient culture to kill someone (we won't get into whatever creepy stuff goes on today), that doesn't mean that we all should avoid all knives.

NOT trying to start any arguements here about religion, etc. Just offering some thoughts for you and your wife's predicament.
F