The rituals are in every religion. Their significance is the effect of external atmosphere. Baptism is a ritual .All the rituals are indicating the super natural power of the unimagined God. Astrologers and Black magic etc., are not good from the point the highest real devotees. But from the point of atheists and scientists, they indicate the super natural element, which leads to the existence of the God.
Therefore, every thing in the tradition is positive from the point of lowest cadre and simultaneously negative from the point of highest devotees. Even the idol worship is good from the point of lowest devotees. They cannot accept the present human incarnation due to their ego and jealousy. They cannot see the energetic forms of God by long penance. They can only retain concept of God through idols and photos. Jesus on the cross of the chain present in the neck of every Christian is an idol. Ofcourse, the idol worship is not direct worship of the God, because God does not exist in idols. It is only model or representative of the concept.
We use models in teaching. When you teach the generation of the electricity through a model or flow sheet diagram, a diagram or the model is not directly the electric generator. But it represents the concept of production of electricity. The idol worship should be limited up to vision only. Therefore, cleaning the idol by bath and decorating is acceptable. You can offer also the food to the idol and feel that you are eating the remains. But you should not say that you have really scarified to the God. Thus, you can see every thing as positive from the lower level.
