The Single Greatest (Publishing) Tragedy in Tolkien's Life (yet another rant)

[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by Child

However, my gut feeling is this: it is "artificial" to try and create a society devoid of religious content.

I don't disagree. However, I do think that to attempt to shape a fictional world founded on myths and legend so that it accorded more with his own specific religious beliefs was as much a mistake as to convert it from a flat world to a round one.

That is not to say that these were wasted years. I have not read the HoME series myself but, from what I have seen and read, there is much in there that is of biographical and philosophical interest.

From my perspective, however, Tolkien hit exactly the right note with religious content in LotR.