Well I have to admit i'm slightly confused about this thread, I tried to read through every post but it's 11:30pm and my concentration's beginning to waver slightly.
Basically in my opinion it is entirely up to the individual person whether they choose to see Middle Earth as a religion, although it isn't really my thing. I love exploring Middle Earth and finding out all these new things about it every day, I can't help thinking that if I turned it into a religion half the fun and imagination would be sucked out of it. It could turn into meaningless rules and regulations to follow - and I'm sure Tolkien would never have intended that.
Fantasy books eg LotR and His Dark Materials do influence me a lot and possibly change my perspective on many things but to worship them - I personally think it's going a bit far.
Also, we know Middle Earth is fiction (at least we think it is, no matter how much we know it is) Isn't part of the point of religion believing entirely in that what the Qu'ran or Bible says actually happened? That's one reason I think it's ridiculous that Jedi actually became a religion... it's fiction pure and simple.
Still i guess i'm pretty open minded about the whole issue so my opinion could still change...
~*Varda*~
ps very sorry if i rambled on/repeated myself/contradicted myself, like i said, i'm really tired
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'It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: someone has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them' ~Frodo
"Life is hard. After all, it kills you." - Katharine Hepburn
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