"My current view is that those who die without a connection to Christ are simply dead, without any awareness of any kind"
The cruelty of such a belief will consign those who agree to an eternity in Hell. He will be judged by a righteous God who isn't happy with false teachers and liars.
“The cruelty of such a belief will consign those who agree to an eternity in Hell.”
You speak the truth, they have it backwards. Hell is just; lying about its reality, and keeping others from the free gift of eternal life, is not.