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Such distinctions would most certainly not have been apparent to me age 11.
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No they probably wouldn't
Saucepan Man, but then it is not the children that ban the books it is the adults. The distinctions are made by 'discerning' parents who want what they believe to be the best for their children and while it is all well and good to want to protect them it is still ridiculous to think that not reading a book will do this. Even if they don't read it at home if others at school do so they are likely to know about it or even to borrow it off a friend to read it.
On
Formendacil's point
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And although this is nowhere directly stated, in the Lord of the Rings itself, it is still there in the underlying structure. Note that the Harry Potter books have no such claim made- anywhere- by J.K. Rowling about them being "fundamentally Christian".
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This is true but if she had made some statement about them being fundamentally Christian then she would probably have been accused for that. We are now a multi-religious society and to those who take slight at anything it such a remark would likely have been seen as some kind of insult. To say the books were Christian might indicate a lack of respect toward other religions (this is not my view it is simply an example). In Tolkien's time England was Christian pretty much through and through so this was not a problem, indeed he was probably liked more for it. It is just another example of the fact that the changes in society over time mean you have to be more careful with what you say.
And thanks for the link
H-I.