Napoleon's Sanhedrin and the Halakhah 43 social and economic relationships(Bet Habehirah to A. Z. 20a). Maimonides stated that Christians or Muslims should be considered as gerei toshav. They would assist in the preparation for the Messianic era (Yad Melakhim 8.11 and Responsa 3.5; Edut. 11.10, etc.). At other times he considered Christianity as a form of idol worship(Yad Hil. Avodat Kokhavirn 9.4; Hil. Akum 10.2; Hil. Maakhalot Asurot), although he, too, had some positive thoughts about Christianity (Yad Hil. Melakhim 11.4). Of course Maimonides dealt with Christianity in the abstract in contrast to the other authorities who lived in a Christian world.
A French Tosafist of the same period expressed positive views akin to Meiri, and so we see that they were not restricted to Sephardic Jewry(Bekh. 2b). This point of view became normative, and Christians as well as Muslims were considered in the same category as the gerei toshav. This point of view was accepted by Caro in the Shulhaii Arukh
(Yoreh Deah 148.12; also Tur Yoreh Deah 148) and most forcefully by Mosheh Rifkes, author of the Beer Hagolah to the Shulhan Arukh (Hoshen Mishpat, 425 at the end). The statement is remarkable because the author himself had fled Vilna to Amsterdam from anti-Jewish riots. He stated:“The sages made reference only to the idolaters of their day who did not believe in the creation of the world, the Exodus, God 's marvelous deeds, or the divinely given law. But these people, among whom we are scattered, believe in all these essentials of religion. So, it is our duty to pray for their welfare, and that of their kingdom, etc.”