The very word ''idolatry'' is being used in a sloppy fashion. While people may have things they over emphasize, that is not idolatry. And things that are idolatry are thought to be kosher since they are Jewish.
What is idolatry-the worship of any being besides the First Cause by any one of the four services or are according to its way.[חגשה הקטרה שחיטה השתחוויה] Bringing close to an altar, burning [incense or similar], slaughter bowing, or according to its way.
So when I say worship of tzadikim is idolatry I mean the last sort of service, I.e., doing what they say as a way of serving them is idolatry.
So when i say the religious world is doing idolatry I mean this in a literal sense.
[however to become an object of idolatry is easy. all one needs is to say ''serve me''.] see Sanhedrin 64 and onwards for a few pages and the Tosephta over there from where I got this last law.
[However I consider Rav Nahman of Breslov to be a great tzadik so even if some people might apply his teachings in odd ways, that does not diminish his importance for understanding and fulfilling of Torah]
