I'm not much for crying statues either

We have the Revelation of God's Word, and Marian apparations.

Strange statues are not necessary.

Looks like other religions have odd breakouts of extraordinary odd things also.

link

“Hey man, this is faith,” said the Santa Fe resident, as she offered milk to a statue of the deity Lord Shiva — the “destroyer’ — at a temple in New Delhi.

Rao is one of tens of thousands who have thronged temples across India this week following weekend reports that gods and goddesses were “drinking” proffered milk — a phenomenon seen as a miracle by the country’s Hindus.

People believe giving offerings “will appease their gods,” Hindu priest Rishikesh Bhargav said this week as people continued to try to tempt the deities with milk.

The so-called milk “miracle” first surfaced in 1995 when temples in India, Britain and Canada were jammed by believers who asserted that the portly god of good fortune, Lord Ganesha, had switched to milk from his preferred candy.

Belief and worship hold an important place in the lives of most Indians, irrespective of their caste and economic status, and parts of the country are often swept by religious frenzies.

“Forget deities. I fed a cup of coffee to a statue of Jawaharlal Nehru (India’s first prime minister) right before television cameras,” Indian Rationalist Association president Sanal Edamaruku said in New Delhi.

Ah coffee! Now that's something I can sympathize with the statue on.

“Even bricks are drinking milk and these are just the mechanics of a process called capillary action,” he said.

His scepticism came under fire from well-known Hindu priest Mahant Surendra Nath.
“Why disbelieve when these things are happening right before our eyes?” said the priest, who is based in the Indian capital.

The deity milk-drinking frenzy in overwhelmingly Hindu India came just days after Muslims in the western Indian city of Mumbai swilled “sweet” seawater.

Tens of thousands of Mumbai residents sipped puce-coloured seawater despite anxious health warnings from doctors who said it was full of city waste water.

Scientists said that the sea water’s salinity had declined because of heavy rains which resulted in an overflow from nearby rivers.

“Very soon there will be a jaundice epidemic in Mumbai and its suburbs,” said Pradeep Bijalwan, a medical practitioner.

But the faithful attributed the “miracle” liquid to a beach-front Islamic shrine.

Many saw it as a blessing from Makhdoom Ali Mahimi, a 13th century Sufi saint in whose honour a shrine is built in the city’s Mahim area. Mahimi is revered by both Muslims and Hindus.