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So, I see two reasons for Tolkien being right here. One, that (as has been stated) overt use of the emblems of any current or known religious tradition would pull us out of the secondary world into the primary one & 'break the spell',
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davem
But would it necessarily break the spell? ....as in an if-then cause and effect? It seems to me it would depend on how the things was brought off. Say, for example that one is reading or writing a "transitional" fantasy; that is, one that starts in the primary world (at least as evoked in the feigned reality) and moves into a secondary world. Let us suppose that emblems of religion are explored as they funciton both in the primary and secondary worlds. Does this break the spell? Or rather, does it weave a different kind of enchantment? I think it may do the latter, if brought off well. Now, this does not account for reader taste. If, say, a christian emblem is used, and an atheist simply cannot abide it, then it's not going to work for that atheist. But what if the chrisitan emblem is brought off well and the atheist is open minded enough to appreciate the art as presented, to see where it leads? Am I dreaming up impossibilities, or is it not a matter of expertise in terms of the art?
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& two, that such overt usage would turn the 'emblems' used from symbols to signs, & make the work into an obvious allegory, rather than a 'parable'.
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davem
Now, this one seems a little easier to answer than the former. Assuming an expertly done work of fiction,, it seems to me that the use of religious emblems from the primary world is no more (and no less) prone to mis-allegorization than is LotR. I have read much of Stephen Lawhead, especially his Arthurian series. It is, I admit, hit or miss in terms of craft, but the better crafted the work is, the more it seems to me that Lawhead has done admirably. I am more convinced of this after having read Leonard Tolstoy's
In Search of Merlin, the knowledge of which Lawhead has apparently made great use of in his
Merlin, which I think may be the best of the series. Lawhead's
Albion series is better than his
Arthur series, and it is even more clearly theist (if not christian) than his
Arthur series. It is, by the way, a "transitional" fantasy, whereas the Arthur series is "in the deeps of time" as it were, and is thus an "over there" fantasy (there's a better word but I can't think of it right now).
I don't for a minute believe that I've proven anything with the above "devil's advocate" answers, but I wanted to raise the remonstrations since everybody seems to be agreed that primary world religious emblems don't belong in fantasy.