Both Uses

icon
in
This I Believe
(Edited)

I now remember not only the days when people were chased from houses of worship with guns, but also those poor Russians who traded for food their most treasured possessions but kept the holy icons.
Chpt 38 *

icons = religious artworks
The first twenty programs in the series included essays from a senator, several business leaders, a labor leader, two college presidents, a movie producer, a philosophy professor, a baseball umpire, and two certified national icons: Helen Keller and Eleanor Roosevelt.
Chpt 81 *

icons = people widely recognized as symbols

Definitions:

(1) (icon as in: computer icon)
a small image or symbol on a screen that represents a program, file, or function
(2) (icon as in: pop culture icon)
a person or thing that is widely recognized as a symbol of something — often admired
(3) (icon as in: holy icon)
a religious image or object that is respected, treated as sacred, or used in worship -- especially in Christian traditions
(4) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)