Imagine no religion

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Originally Posted by Bêthberry

It seems to me that LotR particularly is imbued with what can be called orthopraxy rather than orthodoxy. It is historically true that Judaism and Islam have placed greater emphasis on orthopraxy rather than orthodoxy

Ah maybe ít is I who have mixed up the terms, or have been sloppy. Well, I think I thought Christianity was under the greater umbrella of Judaism, and that it consequently also would historically have valued orthopraxy over orthodoxy, which didn't ring true to me. Christianity, or at least not its mayor Churches, historically don't seem to have been happy at all with people following their own creed or lack thereof as long as they act as "good" human beings. On the contrary, pledging allegience to the one and only acceptable creed and partaking in all its rituals seem to have been a requirement for being treated as a good citizen and to have a chance of avoiding the eternal fires.

To be fair, I don't have the impression that the Muslim clerics have been much different in this respect (though perhaps, in the Middle Ages at least, more tolerant of other creeds than their Christian counterparts), and that WiKi article also suggests that the orthopraxy of Islam really could be held to be "orthodoxy applied to practice" since "the practice is held to come from doctrine [ie the faith in and obiedience to Allah]". A similar argument could be held to be true for Judaism, apparently. And frankly, the exploits of the Jews as depicted in the first testament doesn't exactly argue for a people (and religion) that are tolerant of peoples of another creed. These fellows they simply chop the head off, no questions asked. Things have changed since then, of course, but the point remains.

In any case, if you say that LotR is inbued with an orthopraxy, that the right behaviour is what matters, not one's allegiance or creed - and here I would agree - I will argue that it is not the same kind of orthopraxy that these real world religious leaders have preached throughout history. In Islam or Judaism the right behaviour may be what's most important, but what constitutes the right behaviour is decided by the clerics (or, allegedly, God, through the clerics).

In Middle Earth, apparently, there are no clerics and there are no holy books. There are some instances and suggestions of deities or demi-deities communicating directly with people or characters, but these are exceptions surely. Who then is to decide what is right or wrong? The people are rather left to decide among themselves, aren't they?

So: Imagine no (organized) religion!

In a way, this seems to be what Tolkien's done.