I was taught that the Church accepts that people who never heard the message of Christ can go to heaven provided they lived a good life.
Anyone that had heard of Christ can only go to heaven if they follow the teachings.
I once asked my Vicar if his goal was for more souls to go to heaven. It was.
I asked if he believed any good person who had not heard of Christ could go to heaven. He did.
I asked if he believed that a good person who chose not to follow Christ having heard of him could go to heaven. He said he did believe that.
I asked him if he realised that the logical answer to his desire was to ban teaching people about Christ, as that would mean ALL good sould were saved, rather than only those people who were good AND observant.
He was not impressed, and I scored very poorly on his RE exam that term.
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Overhead, the Albatross hangs motionless upon the air,
And deep beneath the rolling waves,
In labyrinths of Coral Caves,
The Echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand;
And everthing is Green and Submarine
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