The Emblems of Religion don't belong ... or do they?

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by alatar

Is it that these remembrances and solemn ceremonies seem right and natural for the characters to do, meaning that they do not seem forced nor unrealistic? Tolkien may have wanted to show that there was some religion in his world, but not one in particular. These examples enhance the story, but are not the story. To leave all religious allusions/examples out may have made the world seem more fantastic than he desired.

-emphasis mine.

Are you suggesting that ceremonies and religions in OUR time and place are forced or unrealistic? Because any religion that takes itself seriously MUST consider its practises, or some portion of them, and CERTAINLY its beliefs, to be natural and unforced.

I doubt that this is what you are suggesting, but it is certainly what you came across as saying on my first reading.