I found this on Kim Paffenroth's website; he is a professor of early Christianity and a writer of horror novels (though that has very little to do with the article).

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/opinion/27blow.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

You'll need to cut and paste the address into your address bar because I don't know how to make it an active link. It's worthwhile reading though. The article begins:

"In June, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life published a controversial survey in which 70 percent of Americans said that they believed religions other than theirs could lead to eternal life."

Essentially the survey found that most Christians (and this cuts all denominational lines) believe that you don't have to be a Christian to get into Heaven. Not only that, but they are willing to imagine God's grace extend past the other monotheistic (one-God only) religions of Judaism and Islam. The sentiment seems to suggest that it is possible for good people of any religion (or good people who are atheist or agnostic for that matter) to receive God's grace.

This has scandalized many in the Religious Right who claim this is blasphemy. The doctrines of the church teach that it is necessary to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior to enter Heaven. They say that any other view would contradict Bible verses like John 14:6, which says:

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

While that seems true, what they don't say is that the idea that only Christians get into heaven contradicts scriptures also, for example the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46, which says that it is showing mercy to those in need that is the criteria for heaven, or what Jesus says to the rich young man in Matthew 19. When he asks what he needs to do to have eternal life Jesus says,

"'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'"

Ultimately, we don't know who gets to heaven and who doesn't. Any time someone sets down an absolute doctrine about who can be saved and who cannot, that person is attempting to stand in the place of God. That doesn't work, no matter how many scriptures you can quote to back yourself up.

People have gotten sick of the judgmental attitude of those who treat Heaven as an exclusive Christians only club. They don't have a perfect understanding of salvation either, but they know that God's grace can encompass more than human doctrine wants to allow.

I'm with them on that. I think this is a sound and faithful insight, and one long overdue.