In Letter 153 Tolkien says:
Quote:
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As for 'whose authority decides these things?' The immediate 'authorities' are the Valar (the Powers or Authorities): the 'gods.' But they are only created spirits -- of high angelic order we should say, with their attendant lesser angels -- reverend, therefore, but not worshipful. [footnote:] There are thus no temples or 'churches' or fanes in this 'world' among 'good' peoples. They had little or no 'religion' in the sense of worship. For help they may call on a Vala (as Elbereth), as a Catholic might on a Saint, though no doubt knowing in theory as well as he that the power of the Vala was limited and derivative. But this is a 'primitive age': and these folk may be said to view the Valar as children their parents or immediate adult superiors, and though they know they are subjects of the King he does not live in their country nor have there any dwelling. I do not think Hobbits practiced any form of worship or prayer (unless through exceptional contact with Elves). The Numenoreans (and others of that branch of Humanity, that fought against Morgoth, even if they elected to remain in Middle-earth and did not go to Numenor: such as the Rohirrim) were pure monotheists. But there was no temple in Numenor (until Sauron introduced the cult of Morgoth). The top of the Mountain, the Meneltarma or Pillar of Heaven, was dedicated to Eru, the One, and there at any time privately, and at certain times of publicly, God was invoked, praised, and adored: an imitation of the Valar and the Mountain of Aman. But Numenor fell and was destroyed and the Mountain engulfed, and there was no substitute. Among the exiles, remnants of the Faithful who had not adopted the false religion nor taken part in the rebellion, religion as divine worship (though perhaps not as philosophy and metaphysics) seems to have played a small part; though a glimpse of it is caught in Faramir's remark on 'grace at meat.'
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To that, I might add a view of my own, about this being a "primitive age": when one lives in a world in which there are living beings who once saw and spoke with and knew "the gods," one might be apt to have little need for a formal religion, as Morthoron defined it, a system of set beliefs and rites. "Religion" as such might well be far more personal, as the people of that time are not so far removed from a literally personal relationship with beings who are the appointed authorities under Eru Himself. When Tolkien does talk about such set practices, it seems that he always refers to them as "cults" (as he does when he speaks of the Blue Wizards, and how their influence in the East might well linger in cults of "black magic"). The times of public worship on the Meneltarma (Eruhantale, for instance) are, if I recall correctly, merely an assembly of the people who keep reverent silence while the king offers thanks to the One. The Dwarven reverence of Aule has, to me, always seemed like that of descendants toward a revered and much respected forefather, the one with whom their line began. The closest thing to a set prayer or hymn that I recall is the Elven song to Elbereth, which, as we see in Sam's use of it in Mordor, is probably quite open to personal reinterpretation by the individuals who call upon her for help.
Oh, and as yet another former Catholic (so former, I suspect I'd've been excommunicated as a heretic and apostate if I'd stayed in the church
), I've always felt the Valar and Maiar were presented much as Tolkien later said, as saints and angels -- more angels than saints, I think, since they are not and never were human, but of another kind entirely, and they are called upon much as Catholics (at least from what I remember
) called upon saints and angels, to intercede for them, either within their own limited powers, or as intermediaries between the living incarnates and God (a role I think they fulfilled when Manwe, in apparent response to pleas from the faithful in Numenor, called upon Eru Himself to act on their behalf against the rebellious Ar-Pharazon and his followers).
All just my nickel's worth (inflation, y'know
).