Tolkien wrote an epic for English speaking Anglo-Saxons because they lack a mythology.
The Greeks have Homer, the Romans have Vergil, other cultures too have their own epic literature, but English literature doesn't have one. There's basically Beowulf in Old English and that's it. It's not much but Tolkien translated that into modern English too.
Wanting to "modernize" Tolkien's world is kind of retarded.