Well, Tolkien would probably say that all *good* stories are Christian in some way, in that their themes reflect a fundamental truth which is found, in its fullness, within a (Catholic) Christian faith. That the "secular" values you profess only make sense within an inheritance born of out western Christianity. There are no truly Atheist values - because atheism, at least going with the popular "just a lack of belief" definition, posits nothing about the nature of reality. Every claim about morality is, at best, adjacent to atheism - certainly not intrinsic to it. This is essentially incontrovertible, unless you want to describe atheism as a religious worldview - but I can only speak to one position at a time.

@@PennedLionsPen so he didn’t?

I was providing some background that felt important to the philosophical side, which is my main focus. But the quote is, “The Lord of the Rings' is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out practically all references to anything like 'religion,' to cults or practices, in the imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and symbolism.” Tolkien did not see it as necessary to add allegory as obvious as that written by C.S. Lewis. He told a tale with powerfully Christian themes (like redemption, in Boromir), but kept it subtle, all the while crafting a story and world beautiful enough, and True enough, to be compelling to millions of people across the world. As I state in the video, Tolkien was not a gnostic - he would have affirmed that the world points toward, not away from, God. That is why a truly beautiful story, in the eyes of the great Christian artists of history, is necessarily a deeply religious story - because Truth and Beauty proceed from God, and none other.

@@PennedLionsPen I can’t help but call him wrong in saying it’s in any way fundamentally religious or catholic. What a weird take

@@NeedSomeNuanceit’s Christian on a meta level. Good and evil and spirituality in LOTR is quite specifically the Christian/Catholic meaning of those concepts, not pagan ones

Tolkien had a deep appreciation for particular cultures, places, and peoples, as well as their cultural products. In his day - even more so than ours - there was a waning sense of being inside of any real culture, any real tradition, at all - which makes it very hard to feel where you're going. We especially today feel lost, unmoored, and we look to tradition for guidance. Tolkien's love of cultural traditions extended into the religious - pagan and Christian motifs had each had well over a thousand years of cultural significance in most of these cultures. And I think Tolkien was right to hold this focus. What is a story, but an engagement with old tradition, and an attempt to contribute to the next generation's inheritance? All that you are left with is entertainment, but even that starts to feel empty, meaningless after long enough.

I thought it was pretty good