Arwen, the Book of Lost Tales was Tolkien's original "version" of the Silmarillion...however, a lot of things did change. Seing as Balrog wings are such a vague area, however, I still think it's an interesting quote, though by no means conclusive for either side of the debate. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
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don't believe in evolution, and Tolkien was also a Christian, not an evolutionist
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I haven't seen anything saying he wasn't, but if he did actually say he was, obviously that supercedes what I'm about to say.
But firstly it's perfectly possible to be a devout religious person and still believe in evolution...religious accounts and evolution don't contradict each other, unles you literally beleive the world was made in 7 days, and Tolkien didn;t beleive that (see my next point).
Secondly, in Letters someone asked if the Winged Nazgul Steeds were like Pteranosaurs. He responds that he hadn't had Pteranosaurs in mind, but that they could be similar (maybe related?) , and says that the "almsot mythic prehistory" being discovered of the time of the Dinosaurs was marvelous and fascinating. Anyway, seeing as he beleived, and was impressed by, prehistoric creatures, he must have beleived the wolrd to be ancient (unlike what the Bible says: hence the reason he couldn't have been a literal Old Testament guy). This, coupled with his general attitdue in his letters of non-fundamentalism (if he was one, he would have burned the Silm and LotR, firstly for having Eru as God...) leads me to beleive that he wouldn;t have rejected evolution.
Of course, we can;t tell for certain either way, but I think basing the argument of "Balrogs may have had flightless wings because Tolkien didn;t beleive in evolution" is an extremely flimsy argument.
Heheh...little Balrog chicks being protected by wings. Cute. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]