In the practice of
religion, a
cult image is a human-made object that is venerated or worshipped for the
deity, spirit or
daemon that it embodies or represents.
Cultus, the outward religious formulas of "
cult" (meaning religious practice, as opposed to the pejorative term for a potentially dangerous "
new religion"), often centers upon the treatment of cult images, which may be dressed, fed or paraded, etc.
Religious images cover a wider range of all types of images made with a religious purpose, subject, or connection.