It is freeing to recognize that I have never sinned and it pissed Christians off when I say this. To clarify, in Christianity sin is not simply “the bad things we do” it is specifically an offense against god. God does not exists so i have never sinned against him.
I’ve been an atheist for for 16 years but it was only recently that I realized this distinction. It short-circuits the guilt based evangelism. It forces the christian to first demonstrate that god exists before they can convince me I have sinned and need to be saved from that sin. And to say the least, they are ill equipped to demonstrate the existence of god.
Bilbo didn’t wrotr the Hobbit. He wrote the red book.
Yet it’s the basis, just like deluded people say god is the basis of the bible.
Given that JRR Tolkien wrote the books and invented Bilbo and Eru Iluvatur I don’t think it’s applicable here.