In pre-modern times, when Christians rarely met non-Christians — oh, they might have known some Jews, who could be ghettoized or dismissed as “Christ-killers,” but they seldom if ever met Buddhists or Hindus or Sikhs or Jains or Confucians or practitioners of Shinto and only encountered Muslims as political and military foes — it was easy not to worry about the salvation or damnation of non-Christians.
In today’s world, by contrast, where our neighbors and co-workers might well be radically different from us both ethnically and religiously but, nonetheless, be discernibly good, decent, and sincere people, it’s difficult for a serious and reflective Christian not to be concerned about the fate of the “unevangelized.”
And, of course, that concern naturally expands into the past: What is the destiny of those who never heard the news of Christianity? Are there grounds for hope?
Much could be — much has been — written and spoken on this topic.
Latter-day Saints occupy a strong position on the subject, thanks (among other things) to our doctrine and our temple-focused practice of postmortem redemption of the dead.
Here’s a brief consideration of the question as it appears within the Orthodox Christian tradition:
https://publicorthodoxy.org/2017/04/04/salvation-for-non-christians/
Incidentally, I almost failed to note that today, Thursday, marked the 187th birthday of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My gratitude for the Restoration is inexpressibly great.
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