[UpstateMatt]

David:

I suppose one issue here is that for many of the kind of people who seriously engage in these debates within Christianity, Catholicism and Protestantism ARE NOT strands of the same religion. I think the first question for any fundamentalist Protestant being engaged in this debate should be, "Do good Catholics go to heaven?" In many cases, the answer will be no. And that's fine. But you need to know the answer to that question up front. Because if the answer is no, you are dealing with an entirely different set of questions.

I can't speech to Islam, but I can imagine that the same sticking point occurs.

I know this doesn't address your main concern in the post, but it's important - it speaks to motive.

mg