# Tolkien considered LOTR "a Christian work"... How?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-considered-lotr-a-christian-work-how/216668>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [December 3, 2003, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-considered-lotr-a-christian-work-how/216668 "2003-12-03T05:56:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-considered-lotr-a-christian-work-how/216668/21 "2003-12-05T00:20:02Z")

</div>

I’m not by any means a Tolkien expert, but I understand that another big Christian theme in the books is that of free will. Elves, ents, hobbits, men, and so on are considered ‘real’ species and have free will to choose their fates. The Uruk-Hai, OTOH, (and I think plain orcs too) are the result of genetic breeding programs; they have no ability to choose and are evil through no fault of their own. Someone else will have to take that farther; I can’t dissect it properly.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Asylum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@Asylum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asylum)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-considered-lotr-a-christian-work-how/216668/22 "2003-12-05T07:31:45Z")

</div>

Hold on, I’m getting a little confused here. Are some people in this thread arguing that Tolkein was trying to promote principles that were agnostic and not specifically Christian or Catholic, or are they just arguing that the world of LOTR was agnostic while having values that were Christian? Or did I completely miss the boat and have no clue what I’m talking about?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-considered-lotr-a-christian-work-how/216668/23 "2003-12-05T09:17:02Z")

</div>

I think either his son, or grandson became a priest and just recently was accused of child molestation but I think they let him off the hook because of his age.  
yeah I will look for a cite~

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-considered-lotr-a-christian-work-how/216668/24 "2003-12-05T09:24:11Z")

</div>

Yeah I know both these posts are off topic but oh well here is a cite. sorry just copy and paste it. Tolkien was apparently a devout catholic  
[http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100localnews/content\_objectid=13198462\_method=full\_siteid=50002\_headline=--Damages--paid-in-Tolkien-case-name\_page.html](http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100localnews/content_objectid=13198462_method=full_siteid=50002_headline=--Damages--paid-in-Tolkien-case-name_page.html)

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-considered-lotr-a-christian-work-how/216668.md?page=1)