“Neophyte interpretations of Scripture (a la Robert Schuller, Billy Graham, Pat Robertson, Joel Osteen etc etc) are not necessary here.... I’ll take Aquinas, AUGUSTINE, Benedict XVI”
Ironically, I’ve been giving Augustine’s interpretation of scripture the whole time! Probably not even Aquinas held to your doctrines on atheists either. As for the modern Popes. Well, after John Paul the II kissed a Koran, received the mark of Shiva on his forehead, received blessings from Pagans and took part in their services, and sat by as the Dahli Lama put a statue of Buddha on a Christian altar, all acts condemned by name by your previous Popes... Well, I can’t take you seriously when you cite them. Maybe less than a hundred years ago even, you would have been excommunicated and condemned to hell.
This is the foolishness of people who look to form. Christ condemned this very practice of looking at outwards act and not in the heart of man. You render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s. Koran, etc are pagan stuff and just like the early church incorporated certain pagan forms into worship, a certain acculturation takes place without sacrificing core beliefs. To the extent the Koran confirms the God of Abraham, in the heart of Pope JP II, he was acknowledging this fact but we wouldn’t know that, would we? So even sitting by the Dalai Lama is idol worship to you! No wonder you cannot see the difference between the Good Samaritan and Hitler. By your lights with nothing to Guide you, you condemn both as undeserving of paradise. By the teachings of our Church, unless you believe in the Holy Eucharist as the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of the Living Christ, you are no less a pagan than Mormons or any other sects. But yet God has mercy on your foolishness and ignorance in the hope that you will examine your conscience, use what intelligence God has given you and embrace the one TRUE Church. All the rest, is just that. All the rest.