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

[Lathriel]

I don't think religion belongs in fantasy unless it is used deliberatly by the author in order to make a point about society. For example to state the overly obvious, Pullman with his trilogy His dark materials.

Otherwise I think authors should not include religion,or if they do want to include some sort of religion they should make up one of their own.

As for Tolkien, some symbols in LOTR could be seen as religious but they could also come from the myths or legends Tolkien was so crazy about. Indeed myths/legends are really close to religion because some of the missionaries (in the dark ages)would combine pagan beliefs with christian ones just so that they could get more people interested and thus convert more of them. So some symbols have stayed the same or their meaning is closely related.