Question

I read the Rabbi’s remarks in column 631, and I saw that the Rabbi wrote there that according to Maimonides, it seems that idolatry has to be truly for its own sake.
 
According to this, why is it in the category of “be killed rather than transgress”?
 
If you say that “be killed rather than transgress” means that a person may not worship idolatry for its own sake even at the cost of his life, but ordinarily, if someone points a gun at me, I would be allowed to worship idolatry because it is not really for its own sake,
 
there is a Talmudic passage in Pesachim (25a, near the bottom) that says it is forbidden to be healed through asherah trees when there is no danger (and likewise on 25b), and why is that? It is certainly not for the sake of idolatry.
 
And if you say, like Tosafot there, that this is because perhaps one may come to be drawn after idolatry, then in general Maimonides should hold that way as well, even regarding a person who does not worship out of love or fear, but just generally!
 
And if, like Rashi there, it is only because it appears as though he acknowledges it, then it is the same issue as with Tosafot.
 
Unless we are forced to explain that Maimonides follows Rashi’s view in a case like that where it does not appear at all that he acknowledges it (say, he is in an isolated place).
 
 
 
 
But really, I’d be happy to understand this better.
 
Thank you very much!