The Prohibition Against Doing Anything that Contradicts the Belief in One God
Rabbi Yoel Schwartz (Jerusalem Court for Bnei Noah)
(1) It is prohibited to worship any other god, in any form or matter at all. If a person is forced to do so, he should try as hard as possible not to carry out such a demand. If he is being threatened by death, there are those that believe that he should be willing to die as a martyr if he does so while being witnessed by ten Jews or ten people of other nations who worship only the One true G-d. A person is not allowed to give honor to other gods, to hug or kiss them; to swear by them, to pray to or worship them. He is not allowed to produce an idol so that others can worship it. He is not even allowed to produce it for artistic purposes. He is not allowed to participate in any rites connected with the worship of other gods even if this person is passive and does not take any active participation in it. All this is so that he will not be misunderstood and cause others to sin because of his action. It is the duty of a person to degrade and hold in contempt all other gods or any form of idolatry.
(2) To deny the existence of G-d is worse than worshipping other gods. Some maintain that this is included in the prohibition of worshipping other gods. Others maintain that it is considered blasphemy since there is no greater insult to the one true G-d than denying his existence.
(3) It is appropriate to refrain from the following because they too are considered related to the worship of other gods:
- Dealing in magical traits, such as predicting with the aid of a crystal ball, or hypnotizing yourself so that you can predict the future or dealing in black magic or trying to predict the future through other means such as horoscopes or things like that;
- Believing in superstitions, such as bad luck because of a black cat or good or bad luck connected to certain numbers;
- Gathering animals for magic, like hypnotizing them;
- Dealing in spiritualism;
- Trying to communicate with the dead.[1]
