A normal prerequisite for a universal proselytizing mission to convert others to a new religion is a belief that their current religious behaviour is unsatisfactory. This chapter deals with the question of Jewish attitudes to gentile paganism as a prelude to the investigation of Jewish attitudes to proselytizing. It concludes that it is unlikely that many Jews in the period before 100 CE perceived any justification for them or their compatriots to object to the pagan idolatry diligently practiced by the non-Jews with whom they came into contact, as long as such practices did not take place in the holy land of Israel or lure Jews into a withdrawal of their special covenant with their God.