Les Proverbes 5:8 Halakha : Mishneh Torah, Foreign Worship and Customs

An Israelite who worshiped idolatry, behold him, he is in everything to be judged as an idolater, and not as an Israelite who violates a prohibitive commandment punishable by stoning. A convert to idolatry, behold him, he is rebellious against the whole scope of the Torah. Likewise are infidels of among Israel not to be judged in aught as Israelites, nor should they ever be received as penitents, for it is said: "None that go unto her return, neither do they attain unto the paths of life" (Prov. 2.19). The infidels are they that absorb themselves in the swerving fancies of their heart about the brutish matters hereinabove spoken of, as a consequence whereof they transgress by stepping upon the vitals of the Torah with spite, soul-sickening and high-handedness, and proclaim that therein lies no iniquity. It is forbidden to converse with them, and to answer any argument concerning them, as it is said: "And come not nigh the door of her house" (Ibid. 5.8). As a rule the thought of an infidel drifts toward idolatry.⁶Hullin, 4b; Abodah Zarah, 17a; Sanhedrin, 38; Ibid. 100b. C. G.