ONLY The Silmarillion

[vanwalossien]

If the Silmarilion had been the most important religious manuscript on the planet, I for one would pay more attention in the religion lessons at school
Actually, the first time I read the SILM I commented to a friend of mine who was reading it at the same time that it reminded me and awful lot of the old testament, because there were so many names to remember...
I think that if the SILM had been written down in Quenya a couple of thousand years ago after having been passed down orally for ages, it could very well have had the same position as any other religious book.
As we approached modern times the Eru-ism (or whatever) probably would've evolved a lot like Christianity, because the two are quite similar (hardly a surprise as Tolkien was a Catholic), but I just have this one thought: In the Silm there are female Valar, and there are no terrible sins committed by women, so perhaps the Eru-ism would've avoided a few gender discriminations that Christianity has caused or supported in the past.

PS: a year or so ago, there was talk in Norway about opening for moslems to be allowed to swear at the Coran instead of at the Norwegian laws or the Bible when witnessing in trials. A humorist commented drily "yeah, well, the Lord of the Rings is also a very important book for lots of people"