#bible belt baptists probably agree with you that lotr is pagan

[westernwoods]

The Tolkien scholar Patrick Curry writes that Tolkien's statement however elides the paganism that pervades the work; it may be fundamentally Christian, but on other levels it is another matter, with its pagan polytheism and animism, and many other features.[2] In other words, Middle-earth is both Christian and pagan.[3] The Tolkien scholar Paul H. Kocher comments that "having made the times pre-Christian, [Tolkien] has freed himself from the need to deal with them in a Christian context, which would be awkward if applied to elves, ents, dwarves, and the rest

just because tolkien created a world in which there are pagan practices doesn't mean lotr wasn't a christian work. (also, incidentally, animism in a strict sense isn't at odds with christianity. only a very dull and uninteresting christian would believe that rocks and trees and rivers have no spiritual essence.) part of the point of lotr is to be the history of a world that has lots of different people groups with their own religions and practices. so this isn't really a "gotcha". the bible has paganism in it. one might even say paganism pervades it in some places. does that make it not inherently a christian work?