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Is there any type of religion in Middle Earth. There is not any mention of it in the books.

Well the whole book is sorta a religion, it is myth, and so the religion to the people in that book, is the myth of the Silmarillion...or to the Elves that's real...but heck everything in that book is DEFINATELY created by gods and such and so on...not so grey as in our mundane world

Try the Silmarillion

was tolkien very religious?
maybe if he's not he didn't really think it's that important to have it?

Yes, he was;
After his parent died, he lived with some man of the church...

There are gods, and the elves sing to them and things like that;
But men didn't know the whole "truth" about Ilúvatar and so on; yet for example the Rohirrim prayed to Orome, god of hunting.

But on Númenor, there were real temples and things like that;

And in the Fourth Age, several Sauron-sects were founded.

heck the whole series is pretty much about good vs evil... you'd think it would be about religion and people's culture/beliefs

true true.
lol religion has its associated mythology and what do you think is done in lotr.............if u cant find anything there check out the history of middle earth

But they don't have something like the church in middle-earth;
and in m.e., people know (not believe) that ilúvatar is the creator of all life;

Tolkien writes that the peoples in Harad & Rhűn also had kinda sects and prayed to statues aso...

hmmmm there is only one religion that has u go to church...........older religions are based on cermeonies and story telling.
i cant tell u how familiar the history behind of middle earth and the story of the elves and gods is TO hindu mythology.

Here is a link concerning Tolkien and Lewis
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/134/52.0.html

thanks ya'll

Wasn't Tolkien a Christian? then y would he write about them praying to statues and about them believing in more than one God?

Yes he was

The ones praying to statues were "barbarians" and really bad guys...
Well, they didn't exactly believe in more than one god...
Thats what I like about Middleearths religion
They had one "real" god, Ilúvatar the Allfather, but he made more god-like creatures... like angels maybe... of whom the people thought that they WERE gods cuz they didnt know about ilúvatar

Exa, where did you read that there were cults devoted to sauron in the forth age? in the history of middle earth 12: the peoples of middle earth tolkien wrote a short story that he didnt finish about something similar to that but i was wondering if somewhere there is more that he wrote. just wondering,

He wrote that in one of the Histories... I dont know which (probably Peoples of M-E)... I think (I'm not sure) it's also in one of his letters.
I don't think there is a lot of material about that

Tolkien was a very devote Christian. He was involved in CS Lewis' conversion to Christianity. Tolkien wrote the concept from the perspective of Mythology (storytelling) in terms of "gods" even though he believed in only one God.

I don't think that it should be considered a conflict since Tolkien was writing from a purely mythological view point of how the people of Middle Earth would view religion much like our Roman and Greek society.

It;s very difficult to define what is in Middle Earth as religion in the way we see it, when the Elves are paying tribute in the forms of songs and poetry- closest they have to worship- to not vague beings believed in via faith, but beings who some of them have actually met and talked to! It's all a very different thing. Illvutar is the cloest there is to a God, the ones referred to as 'Gods' (the Valar) are really more like Angels. The Elves pay tribute to them, the men are known to worship them, evil guys worship Sauron like a God, but like I say, it's different when these guys pop over for a chat sometimes...

okay, thanx, im pretty sure i understand now
cuz im a Christian and i'd be pretty sad if Tolkien wasnt...