There is a sort of switch from worship of gods to worship of dead people in the religious world. And this is to be expected since the nature of the evil inclination changes according to the times. Even in ancient Greece the nature of the different gods of Olympus changed in time. [Especially Hera.] Drastically. So idolatry is definitely not stationary. Just that the religious world ought to be more careful about this issue than is found currently. In the case of a עיר הנידחת [a city that has gone after idolatry] there is no need to see if every person is guilty of worshipping an idol. All you need is a majority of the people. That is enough to determine that the whole city must be destroyed. Thus with the religious world that worships dead people. You do no need to weigh the beliefs of every person. It is enough to see that "if it looks like a duck, and wobbles like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it is a duck." That means in a practical sense that one ought to stay away from the religious world, least he or she be caught up in the punishment that will eventually follow them. [As the Gemara says about those people in the city that has gone after idolatry.]
The Gra signed the letter of excommunication and was ignored and so this problem has just grown larger and larger over time. Maybe it is time to stop all the pictures of so called tzadikim. It it had merely been a matter of a few pictures of the Gra or Rav Shach to remind one to learn Torah. But once you let pictures of true tzadikim like the Gra then that makes room for all the frauds. But now the worship of dead people has gotten way out of hand. Maybe it is time to get back to straight monotheism. Worship of God alone. And the problem is exasperated by the fact that is it is the people that wear of the religious clothes that are supposed to make us think that they are learning and keeping Torah. They are the ones worshipping dead people.
What I think is that getting back to straight worship of God alone.
[However I should make clear that Rav Nahman's teachings I find invaluable and important and this critique on the religious world is not meant to be extended to Rav Nahman.]
