The problem with kissing St. Nicholas’s rib is not that the rib can be false. Let it be the rib of Jesus himself.

The question is: "what should change from the fact that I kiss this rib?"
If nothing, why kiss him?
If something needs to change - so let's conduct a series of experiments and make sure there are positive effects, put on the stream kissing the ribs.

This is called the modern thinking of a free man.

But the ribs kiss because it is accepted. Respect for the Church, for God.
Because there is a risk that if you do not show respect, you will not be taken to Heaven.

"You ask me, but you do it without respect"

In all herds of monkeys there is a strict hierarchy, with mandatory ritual signs of expression of their subordination to the dominant, the alpha male.

The Church forces people to show worship of God in the same way as it is in the monkey flocks.