But I will add by way of corroboration: To reduce Christianity to a religion of ethics is to miss the entire point of the Sacrifice of Christ and His Living Presence in our lives. And I agree that "One need not, after all, be religious to know God." Certainly Plato wasn't "religious" in any sense we readily recognize nowadays; but he sensed the divine Presence in his life. He identified it as Nous, "divine mind." What he couldn't do, before the coming of Christ, was draw the connection between "Mind" and the actual Person whose Mind was "present" in his own spiritual life.
Thank you ever so much for your beautiful essay/post!