Iconoclasts destroyed images because images concealed that God never existed at all

Evidence

This is precisely because they predicted this omnipotence of simulacra, the faculty simulacra have of effacing God from the conscience of man, and the destructive, annihilating truth that they allow to appear - that deep down God never existed, that only the simulacrum ever existed, even that God himself was never anything but his own simulacrum - from this came their urge to destroy the images. If they could have believed that these images only obfuscated or masked the Platonic Idea of God, there would have been no reason to destroy them. One can live with the idea of distorted truth. But their metaphysical despair came from the idea that the image didn’t conceal anything at all, and that these images were in essence not images, such as an original model would have made them, but perfect simulacra, forever radiant with their own fascination. Thus this death of the divine referential must be exorcised at all costs. — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 14

Categorization

• XREF: Directly parallels Jameson’s account of the waning of affect and the loss of the real referent; also resonates with the ADDENDUM ‘On Sacrifice’ theme of sacred simulacra. — connects to: Icon worshipers unknowingly enacted God’s death through representation — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 15; Removing divine oversight logically erases the need for God entirely

Broader Connections

• Icon worshipers unknowingly enacted God’s death through representation #expands (0.82) — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 15
• Removing divine oversight logically erases the need for God entirely #expands (0.73)