Symbols and icons of any faith, of any religion are man-made objects that refer to a power or an idea. The symbols or the icons are never the reality they are only referencing or being used to attempt to communicate the reality to others..
Words, numbers and man-made religious works of art are symbols. They only symbolize what is being referenced. A word or number is never what it is claiming to represent.
For example, the number 7 is a very powerful symbol for Jews, Christians and Muslims. Of course, the visible number "7" is not the seven items it is being used to communicate. It has nothing in it of the "7" it is being used to reference. In and of itself, it is less than "0". It is nothing but what we say it is.
In Judaism and Christianity, there are the seven days of creation, and in Christianity seven deadly sins and seven cardinal virtues. In Judaism, the Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, is considered a sacred day, and seven is also a key number in Jewish mysticism.
There are approximately twenty-five references made to the number seven in the Qur'an the sacred text of Muslims. These references usually concern the seven heavens, the seven periods of creation, seven groups of things, or seven individuals, such as the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus. An allusion made to the number seven in the Qur'an typically includes references to God as the all-powerful creator. Thus, the number seven is directly linked to the power of the divine and has great symbolic value as an expression of Muslim belief and the miracles of God. Even when the Muslims perform the tawaf or circumambulation around the Ka’aba in Mecca, they walk around it seven times.
Whether you are Jewish, Christian or Muslim, you might feel lucky if your home has seven sides and unlucky if it doesn’t. If you think having a coin with seven sides or having seven sides to your home will give you more luck than the one that does not have these symbols, then you are guilty of idolatry - giving a symbol power that it cannot and does not have within itself to give.
The Christian cross 
symbolizes the blood of the son of God sacrificed for the sins of humanity. I am sure there are some Christians who would treat someone who spit on or defiled the Christian cross very Un-Christian. They might even kill them. I have known some Christians who felt they were in for some terribly unlucky times because they lost one of their “special” crosses.
The Star of David 
symbolizes the Jewish trust in God. I am sure there are also some Jews who would treat someone who spit on or defiled the Star of David is a very painful way. They even might kill them. I have also met some Jews who felt like they were in for some terribly unlucky times because they lost a Star of David.
The following “symbol” is Arabic for “Allah”. 
It undoubtedly has a very powerful effect on any Muslim gazing on it. I am sure there are some Muslims who would treat someone who spit on or defiled this Arabic symbol very harshly. They might even kill them. I have met some Muslims who felt they were in for some terribly unlucky times if they spilled some liquid and stained this symbol. For them the Arabic symbol for Allah has become a religious work of art.
The symbol called the swastika 
is derived from the Sanskrit svastika, meaning any lucky or auspicious object, and in particular a mark made on persons and things to denote good luck. Sort of like a lucky charm.
In Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism the swastika is a sacred symbol. I sure you would find some who would kiss it for good luck.
Because of Hitler, the swastika became a symbol of hate, anti-Semitism, violence, death and murder.
The sastika. Same symbol, different spirit-humans giving the symbol different meanings – to some the symbol of a good life, to others the symbol of death. Some believe a clockwise (right-pointing) swastika 
is a Nazi swastika, meaning hate and death while the counter clockwise left-pointing) swastika 
has the ancient meaning of life and good-luck. Right pointing arms is a bad luck symbol. Left pointing arms is a good luck symbol. Some spirit-humans believe this and start collecting the swastika they want so as to get more of the power the swastika “has”. Actually, in Hinduism, the two symbols, the right pointing armed swastika and the left pointing armed swastika represent the two forms of the creator god Brahma: facing right it represents the evolution of the universe, facing left it represents the involution of the universe. In Jainism, the arms point to the right. The swastika (in either orientation) appears on the chest of some statues of Buddha and is often cut into the soles of the feet of Buddha statues. Because of the association of the right-facing swastika with Nazism, Buddhist swastikas (outside India only) after the mid-20th century are almost universally left-facing. Whichever way the arms are facing, to believe that the symbol has any power of its own is definitely idolatry.
What about those who swear that the Christian Cross, the Star of David, the Yin Yang symbol, the little vial of holy water from Our Lady of Lourdes, water blessed by the Mary, the mother of Jesus in a visit she made to a little girl in the 1800's in Lourdes, France, or even the lucky rabbit foot they wear around their neck - What about those that say these symbols have brought them good luck or even healed them or loved ones of cancer? What about the ones healed in faith Healing revival tents across America? Well, more than 99% of the pilgrims to Our Lady of Lourdes who drank or even bathed in the "Holy Water' went back home without any healing of their ailments whatsoever. Most of the ones in the wheelchairs went home in the same wheelchairs they arrived that they thought they would not need any longer.
Doctors have given patients sugar pills and told them it was powerful medicine. Guess what? Some of them improved or even had their own healing experience. What about the one who was healed sitting in a sunny yard and watched a butterfly pass their face and the symbolism of the butterfly that used to be a caterpillar started a healing process in their body.
Sounds like all of this can be explained by the power of belief. The power of belief and Faith has been known to cause chemical changes in the brain and caused the brain to produce hormones and chemical changes in the body that have a healing or a pain-reducing effect on the believer.
The one common denominator seems to be the belief or the faith that the healing is or will be forthcoming. It is the belief in the power of the symbol, the lucky charm or the Holy Person to effect the healing. Only Omnipresent God exists and there is only one Universal Self or Holy Spirit. It is this Universal Self that is the cause behind every healing - not the icon or the "Holy Water".
It is the same with voodoo, Satan worship and rituals calling up demons to do the bidding of the spirit-human who wants power over another.
Lucifer laughs at these spirit-people while giving them just enough to have them think that there is a power other than Omnipresent God and the Universal Spirit that each of us is expressing. Read my missive of Lucifer, which is Latin for Light Bringer for more info. Suffice it here to say that Lucifer is God's product quality tester and is the aspect of God that tests spirit-humans and makes sure none of them of impure heart can enter the Inner Sanctum of the Holy of Holies. Lucifer guards the throne of God from any impurities entering by testing the heart-felt sincerity of the spirit-humans who wish to gain access.
Remember, the moment the symbol seems to be and have what it only represents or symbolizes, we are committing idolatry. We are giving to the created image, the mental image, the symbol, the icon or the charm - the specialness, sacredness, “holiness” or even the demon qualities of which it only is supposed to remind us. Omnipresent God does not care if a symbol referencing the Universal Self is damaged, stained, lost or “defiled”. This doesn’t hurt or upset God in the slightest. God does care if you worship the symbol. The symbol is not God. Only God is God. The defiling, and the deification of these symbols and images is only in the minds of those who have made the symbols into more than they are – just symbols and references.
God is the essence of all that is both manifested and un-manifested, both clean and what we call dirty. Omnipresent God is even the essence of the dirt on our shoes. Remember, what comes out of the other end of the cow is very good fertilizer for new life forms to manifest and grow.
Know that every symbol and every image is just a small part of the infinitely manifested "Face of God". What we see as manifested, physical form is just the outer expression, or "Face" of the Universal Spirit. Spirit-people see your face. Are they seeing even 1% of what is really you? Of course not, they are seeing only the outer face of your inner reality, an outer face that is constantly changing and never remaining the same. Everywhere you look you are seeing the "Face of God", but you can never "see" the essence of the face you see. When one worships the beautiful painted face of the high fashion model, she is looking out at you thinking how sillly you are to make so much of her "face". If you are in a man's body, she will pucker her painted lips and be in wonderment that she can wield so much power over you by the image she projects or the image you have or her. When the male body-builder flexes his enormous muscles and the female and even the male admirers are fantasizing being in bed with him, he laughs at the power these temporary muscles have obver you. Lucifer laughs also when you worship any part of the "Face of God", and lose contact with the essence, the Universal Spirit behind all "Faces".
There is nothing wrong with any symbol if it helps focus you on what is really important. Just do not get hung up in the symbol and give it the power or the praise it does not have nor deserve.
Be careful to avoid falling into the spiritual trap of the Idolatry of the Symbol. It can literally KILL you (or I should say kill your body since you are eternal). Still, even though you are eternal, someone killing your body could definitely ruin your day.
