I now see that you are asking for the story of our landlady in El Salvador. The house we rented had a little grotto in the backyard with a statue in it which the landlady removed before we moved in, so we never actually saw the statue, because she knew that we were Protestants and would not want to have to look at that Catholic thing all the time. We had not asked her to do that. She just voluntarily did that of her own free will, which my mother really appreciated when she was retelling this story on various occasions.
Nobody was planning to break into your house for the purpose of smashing the tasteless dime store bric-a-brac lining your shelves. But to hide behind the excuse of "art" is a bit ridiculous. I am just saying.
Yes, I think that I might have touched on the subject of idolatry in a term paper I wrote for my theology degree. I would refer you to Owen Barfield's book, "Saving the Appearances," for example, but, anyway, that is a very deep subject for shallow minds.
