Q&A: Church
Church
Question
As far as I know, there is a prohibition regarding a church because it is deriving benefit from idol worship—for example, if there are candles or pictures or music there, all of these are benefit from idolatry. But is there a prohibition in the very act of staying in a church even without deriving benefit?
Answer
In the Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh De’ah 157:3, it is prohibited categorically. See also 150:1. But personally I do not understand what prohibition there is in this absent any benefit. Staying there for the sake of study, in my opinion, is permitted.
Discussion on Answer
That was said only regarding an oath in the name of other gods.
It refers both to an oath and to the prohibition against mentioning its name, according to the Talmud in Sanhedrin 63b: a person should not say to his fellow, “Wait for me beside such-and-such an idol.”
I don’t mind discussing Christianity, but there is something distasteful about mentioning the actual name of the idol itself as a form of address.
To the questioner: regarding the prohibition “and the name of other gods you shall not mention; it shall not be heard from your mouth,” is there no obligation to be careful about that?