It is important to read religious language symbolically because, in addition to pointing outside of itself (as all language does), religious language also participates in a larger tradition of meaning making and connection with the holy. When religious symbols are taken literally, “as the holy” rather than “pointing to the holy”, people fall into idolatry and lose sight of the larger purpose of religion, which is allowing us imminent being to connect with the transcendent by opening us to alternate layers of reality.
While I agree with Tillich’s argument about “demonizing symbols,” I disagree with the core of his distinction between symbols and signs. According to Tillich, symbols are different than signs because they participate “in the reality