Question

Hello Rabbi Michael Abraham,
 
A suggestion was raised (by Dr. Hagai Meseg) that the Torah’s and Jewish law’s attitude toward other religions is not derived only from theological considerations, such as who worships idolatry and who does not, but also from moral considerations. As supporting evidence, he cited the famous words of Meiri, which you too have mentioned on several occasions. In addition, he pointed out that the Torah itself brings such moral considerations, for example: “For they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.”
 
Do you think there is real substance to this claim? That is: should the fact that Christians are bound by civilized norms lead to a different attitude not only toward an individual Christian (such as returning his lost object or saving him on the Sabbath), but also toward Christianity itself (such as visiting churches or leniencies regarding their ordinary wine)? On the one hand, this sounds illogical, because even if the person himself is positive, the danger of closeness to idolatry still exists and may even increase. On the other hand, if the Torah itself gives this reason, perhaps it can be interpreted in that way, following the Rosh, and one could distinguish between idolatry that leads to moral degeneration and idolatry that does not. Of course, not with respect to the worship itself, Heaven forbid, but with respect to the attitude toward it.