I have a book about ancient Babylon religion. Part of the discussion is a common symbol you will find among the religion around the world, the cross. You're observation about the cross is correct, and that the shrine will not be allowed to be tainted with other religion.

If you consider the date, why is it that the shrine is much older than Christ? The only answer I can think of is that the cross is based from the ancient religion.

Let's take for example the mother and child worship, the goddess Isis and her son Osiris. I think this is from Egypt. There are other examples of mother and child worship, but I can't remember. Now, the time came after the Roman Empire stopped persecuting followers of Christ, they adopted / declared that Christianity to be the official religion. Since most, if not all countries they conquered, practiced their own religion and other paganism, they "needed to merge" those practices with Christianity. One of them is the mother and child worship. What's the best way to "combine" their beliefs with Christianity is no other than Mary and her child Jesus.

Of course, we Catholics will never admit that we are worshipping Mary. We often argue that the adoration, statue, feasts, etc. are all but to show respect and not worship. I remember my teacher saying, "it's like a picture of your mother, you do not worship but show respect".

I do not intend to start a debate about religion, about Catholics versus Protestants. The examples I gave can be found from Britannica Encyclopedia and other sources. It is unfortunate that I don't have the capacity to give the exact reference right now.

Going back to the book, I remember one conclusion that "all religions and practices can be traced back to the ancient Babylon religion", and that includes some Christian practices like Christmas celebration. If I may say, it is becoming more and more difficult to distinguish a Christian to a true follower of Christ.