Paul argued that with it, Gentile Christians could not be justified before God. The Judaizers did not understand the doctrine of justification by faith alone through the grace of God. The Judaizers were wrong, but at least they saw that little things have major implications. To each his own, because, being a minor issue, it really does not matter much anyway. The Bible can be used to support both positions.
Truth is different for different folks.
Good men differ on minor issues. Indeed, we live in sad times. The ability to analyze and make connections between ideas seems to have escaped the modern church. The fact that ideas have consequences seems to have been lost. Modern Christians have no ability to make connections between doctrinal error and their implications.