Hobbits have been likened to Jesus' disciples

Now several groups have praised the story from Roman Catholics to conservative Protestants in the United States.

Our Sunday Visitor, a Catholic newspaper published in Indiana, has given over its front page to a picture of the story's hero Frodo.

It goes on to claim Tolkien "rooted his epic... in the fertile soil of his own deep orthodox Catholic faith".

Baptist Press, the news agency of the Southern Baptist Convention, published a review of the film praising its "spiritual overtones".

Good versus evil

And a new book, Finding God in the Lord of the Rings, written by members of Focus on the Family, a conservative American group, praises the film for the "transcendent truths of Christianity (that) bubble up throughout this story".

The Lord of the Rings is a classic tale of good versus evil as the young hobbit Frodo is trusted to carry a powerful ring across middle-Earth so it can be destroyed in Mount Doom.

Frodo's task has been likened to that of Jesus carrying the cross in his quest to help others, while his friends are his disciples.

Throughout his life Tolkien denied his trilogy was rooted in Catholicism, saying: "I dislike allegory when I smell it".

But at the age of 81, the author also wrote to the Reverend Robert Murray, a Jesuit priest, saying: "The Lord of the Rings is, of course, a fundamentally religious and Catholic work... the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism."

Experiment

Tolkien's official biographer, believes the book was written for a mass audience and simply draws on the author's religious beliefs and experiences.

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"The book can be seen as a Christian allegory, but that wasn't Tolkien's primary objective.

"He set out to experiment with languages, real and invented ones, and the many themes he included in the novel simply reflected his own Catholic background."

Meanwhile, a Pennsylvanian volunteer group pulled its services from a YMCA sports event because JK Rowling's Harry Potter was actively promoted among children.

The US group, which usually directs traffic at major fire scenes said it was forced into the decision because the wizarding books did not serve the will of God.