What happens to people who have never heard about Jesus?

They burn for all eternity, if you believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible.

There is some controversy here since many Christians would disagree with this.

I agree it is rough luck.

Yes, Evidently they are dammened for things out of their control. There are almost innumerable tragic deaths every day, and it fuels the passions of those of us that build systems that save lives and reduce suffering.

There are a few interesting articles about "what constitutes a good Christian" which may help with your question. There is information suggesting it may not be as simple and clear as "You must accept Jesus..."

Then there is the question of "What about people who died before Jesus was crucified.

I believe that the relevant standard is that everyone has to believe in God AS WAS REVEALED TO THEM.

For Christians, that means believing in Jesus. For people that never had a chance to know Jesus, that is believing in God, so far as he was revealed to them.

2 Corinthians 4:3 KJV:

But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

Here is how the Popes have weighed in on this:

Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos (# 13), Aug. 15, 1832: “With the admonition of the apostle that ‘there is one God, one faith, one baptism’ (Eph. 4:5) may those fear who contrive the notion that the safe harbor of salvation is open to persons of any religion whatever. They should consider the testimony of Christ Himself that ‘those who are not with Christ are against Him,’ (Lk. 11:23) and that they disperse unhappily who do not gather with Him. Therefore, ‘without a doubt, they will perish forever, unless they hold the Catholic faith whole and inviolate” (Athanasian Creed).

I like to think like these verses:

Rom 2:12-15 KJV For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; (13) (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. (14) For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: (15) Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

But how "rare" is someone to be salved like this?

Eze 14:20 KJV Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.

...or...

Gen 5:24 KJV And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

Even for "Salvation Rule", there are RARE exceptions (like the thief that wasn't baptized and was salved). Remember that word: RARE! Now, stand up and...

(...) Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Don't rely on exceptions!

Jesus very clearly states that we are not permitted to answer your question:

Luke 6:37

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. >Forgive, and you will be forgiven."

And if we attempt to answer the question, we are forced to say who is in and who is out of Heaven, clearly a sin according to Jesus.

What Jesus meant by Hell, we have no idea other than it was eternal separation from God. He said the World was Satan's Kingdom, is this Hell? Is the only way out of this place to know Jesus? He said He was the Shepherd and the gate keeper. He also asked God to forgive those who put Him on a cross:

Luke 23:34 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Maybe we continue to get reincarnated until we do finally meet Him? Elijah was John the Baptist:

Mathew 17:10 - The disciples asked him, “Why then do the teachers of the law say that >Elijah must come first?”

11 Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. 12 But I tell >you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him >everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” >13 Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.

... it is all an un-seeable mystery.

But we absolutely must believe that God is perfectly good, and cares FAR more than any human ever could about every living thing. Thank God, Judgement is not up to us!

I think a proper answer to this question requires that we (re-)examine many of the verses used to form the opinion "Faith in Jesus is necessary for salvation."

John 3:16:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

What it says: Anyone who believes in God's son will not perish.
What it doesn't say: Only those who believe will not perish.

John 14:6:

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.“

What it says: It is impossible to get to the Father, except by way of Jesus.
What it doesn't say: That understanding this, or knowing the name of Jesus is necessary to get to the Father.

Romans 6:23:

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What it says: The gift of eternal life is made possible by/through Jesus.
What it doesn't say: Again, it doesn't say that understanding this is necessary to receive eternal life.

John 3:36:

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

What it says: Whoever believes in God's son has eternal life; Whoever rejects God's son will not "see life."
What it doesn't say: It says nothing about those who have neither believed in God's son, nor rejected His son.

Luke 10:27:

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

What it says: Loving God and our neighbors is necessary to inherit eternal life.
What it doesn't say: Knowing the name of Christ, or understanding his work of salvation on the cross is necessary to inherit eternal life.

And in the dialog between Jesus and Peter, Jesus repeats the phrase "Feed my lambs," but never once talks about a requirement for understanding salvation.

So what I believe we're left with here is two solid truths:

1. Those who believe in Christ (which requires knowing of him) are saved.
2. Those who reject Christ (which also requires knowledge of him) are not saved.

There is a big gap between these, though. To help fill that gap, we can consider that we know many people were saved before Christ's coming. (see this question).

From this, we see that the requirement for salvation is not actually knowledge of Christ, but rather a faith in God to save us from ourselves. Prior to Christ's coming, nobody knew the mechanism of salvation; they only knew that God could save them, and their faith in Him to save them is what counted.

Adam and Eve didn't even know the term "messiah," they just knew of a (to them) vague promise for retribution against sin (see Genesis 3:15).

If Adam and Even can have faith in this promise, without knowing of Jesus, then surely anyone can.

We are even told in Ecclesiastes 3:11 that God has revealed Himself to all humanity:

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

A silly analogy

When I call my grandmother, who lives in Montana, I pick up the telephone, I dial her 10-digit phone number, I listen to a few ringing sounds, then I hear "Hello?"

I've worked in IT and telecommunications long enough that I understand the basics of how touch-tone dialing works, telephone switches, and even how microphones and speakers work in my handset and hers. One could easily make a statement such as:

The telephone switch at the CO in Denver is the way to call your grandmother. Nobody makes telephone calls to Montana, except through this switch.

... or ...

Whoever believes in the telephone switch will be able to make phone calls; but whoever rejects the telephone switch will be denied the ability to make phone calls.

I fall into the category of people who understand these telephone switches, and believe in them.

There is a far greater number of people, though, who have never even thought about a telephone switch. But they still pick up the telephone to call their grandmother, having faith that the call will go through.

Is knowledge of the telephone switch necessary? No. Is faith in the telephone switch necessary to make a phone call? Yes.

What is the evidence of this faith? People picking up the phone and dialing.

What is the evidence of faith in God? "Feed my sheep."

Any person can respond to the revelation of God they have experienced, and understand that they are imperfect and sinful, and that only God's forgiveness is sufficient for them to be "right with God."

I don't believe a knowledge of Christ, or understanding of His sacrifice, or even an understanding of the concept of "Heaven" or "eternal life" is necessary for someone to be saved. What is necessary is that a person recognize that they are powerless on their own to be right with God, and that only through God's gift of compassion and grace, can they experience that right communion with God.

I think it's important to first note that the bible teaches that everyone is convicted of sin, righteousness and judgement by the Holy Spirit (John 16:8). In other words, people have within them an intrinsic sense of whats right, wrong, and the fact that there is some ultimate accountability for the evil deeds they commit. Romans 1 and 2 indicate that people have a basic understanding that God exists simply by observing creation yet they suppress all these truths and exchange them for lies. Paul even mentions the gentiles who do not have the law yet do instinctually the things of the law who thereby become a law unto themselves, for it is the doer's of the law who are justified before God. Now, these scriptures convince me that God has equipped, even the person in a remote village with a knowledge of truth to which he can respond or reject. To a person who choses to embrace such a conviction God is not limited to people or even the internet when it comes to delivering the gospel, as was already stated.

Something I find to be very interesting is the general belief by certain Native American tribes that sense the existence of a single personal creator, and there responsibility to love one another and take care of the creation. Hopefully I am not sounding to strange, but I think that this is the result of that inner conviction that God has given to every person. I'd like to say that I am not advocating any kind of universalism, after all, the bible says about Jesus, that there is salvation in no one else (Acts 4:12). I do however believe that the bible teaches that God has equipped all men with the knowledge of Truth to which we can I either embrace or reject. Those who are willing to embrace and repent are God's beloved and God is not willing to allow any of them to perish but wants all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

No. See 1 Peter 3 and 4. Starting from the death of Jesus, the Gospel has been preached to the dead as well as the living.

1 Peter 4:6

For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

Bringing salvation to the dead who had passed away without being able to accept the Gospel was something that early Christians took very seriously. According to Paul, they even held baptisms on their behalf, which Paul apparently approves of and even uses as a supporting argument in favor of the Resurrection. (See 1 Corinthians 15:29, and the entire chapter for context.)

Also, a word of warning to anyone who might see this doctrine and think that this gives them license to not try to live the Gospel in this life because they'll end up getting a second chance once they're dead:

Galatians 6:7

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

At the heart of this question (and many similar ones) is another question: Is God fair?

If God requires acknowledgments of truths that people haven't had a chance to hear in order to be saved, then of course He is not fair.

If we begin with the assumption that God will never act unjustly or unfairly though, then we can assume that He will make Divine provision for everyone, including tribes in remote jungles, to respond to Christ. This provision does not need to be a human delivering a message, but can be angels, dreams, visions, or other unknown methods.

Look at the following quote from Jesus:

Joh 5:24-25 NIV "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. (25) I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.

What is meant by "the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God" can be understood different ways, but I think one of the ways we may possibly understand it is those who have died without the opportunity of receiving Christ will have that opportunity.

However God offers this choice to people, if you assume He is good and will always act justly, whatever He needs to do to accomplish this (He is God after all) He will do. Believing in God's essential goodness is in itself a mark of faith (as you quoted in your question):

Heb 11:6 NIV And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.