Many of the less-liberal denominations still believe that "you are judged on what you know." Ghandi, who knew a great deal about Christianity and made a conscious choice not to accept Christ, would not have gone to heaven, but a Muslim who had never heard the gospel but lived their life to the best of their ability, in faith and humility, would. That has the obvious hole you point out - that very good men, such as Ghandi, who actively choose another path would not get to heaven. It does, however, take the pressure off in terms of conversion. If you've never heard the gospel, you're off the hook a bit. Catholics would have that person in purgatory for a while in order to work off the sin that couldn't be forgiven, because they didn't know to ask for forgiveness.

Then there's the rabid evangelicals, who believe that anyone who hasn't accepted Christ is going to hell - no grey areas anywhere. Even at my most evangelical some twelve years ago, I never believed that. I pretended to, mind you - it was one of the discussions I mostly decided not to have because I wasn't sure where I stood on it. The first rule of debating is to know your own position, and I didn't, so I didn't debate. But I was always uncomfortable with that idea. It fit much better with the terrible-judge view of God than with the loving-father view.