lord of the rings= Allegory

All right, this isn't exactly an original topic because there's a heated debate going on at the Barrowdowns over it right now...but I'd like to know what you guys think.
A lot of people think that Tolkien's books are highly influenced by the Bible and that the trilogy may be an allegorical representation of the Bible. Then again, many say that thw World War affected him deeply and various characters in LOTR represent communists and capitalists and the like.
What do you think? Did Tolkien draw inspiration from the Bible or the world Wars or any other source? Or did he just tell a wonderful story about a world that existed for him?