I first read Nordic Myth (The Sons of Odin) in 3rd grade. In 5th grade, I read The Hobbit, followed by The Lord of the Rings.
That was in 1968. There was no internet. I knew nothing about the author but what he wrote in his books.
I knew without a doubt before I finished the trilogy that he was a Christian. His works were only superficially like Nordic Myth.
On a deeper level, they were very moral, and not truly pagan. They were implicitly monotheistic. (The Silmarillion, written first but published posthumously, was explicitly monotheistic.)
The Valar are created spirits, somewhat like angels (or Lewis’s Oyarsi). Iluvatar is clearly the uncreated Creator of all.
He also included several Types of Christ in the trilogy: Gandalf, Frodo, Aragorn - each exemplified an aspect: resurrected savior, selfless sacrifice, returning king.
I didn’t mean to say that Tolkien was a fan of pagan mythology, just mythology. The Silmarillion was monotheistic, with Eru representing God (God doesn’t really have a name). The Valar were the angels, and as stated were sometimes mistaken by men as gods. Morgoth was, who else? As much as Tolkien hated allegory, there is no mistaking this. Early on, Morgoth corrupted a number of the valar and so you have it. War over good and evil on Earth and so forth. Only the strains of good and evil were in more pure form than you find in other fantasies like Game of Thrones.