Would the Middle Earth saga be considered a religion in of itself?

[VanimaEdhel]

Do you know what is weird? When I was very little (I'm talking about 5 or 6 here), I, not being of any one religion (as I am not still today), would create religions for myself. One such religion involved a "head" god named Manwe with a wife, who I think I remember was named Vana. There were many other major gods and spirits of nature, and it was a lot like the world of Arda. There was also an evil one, I forget his name, that was a lot like Malkor. When I started reading "The Silmarillion" I remembered this religion and the history of these deities is almost parallel to that of my made up religion. Then, I had never even HEARD of LotR or The Hobbit or HoME or UT or anything. Now I am trying to figure out exactly how I thought of those gods.

And why is the name Eru familiar? Has it been mentioned in mythology somewhere (like being based on a mythological god of some sort)?

[ April 13, 2002: Message edited by: VanimaEdhel ]