Ban on discussion of religion or politics prevents film discussion.

[aristotles]

I feel that a total ban on discussion of either of these two topics even within the context of discussing a movie with politicial or religious themes prevents us from being able to have constructive discussions on movies of that type.

I fully support having no threads started specifically on religion or politics but if we were discussing say "The Passion of Christ" religion is likely to appear in the thread by the very nature of the film. Movies about politics or political events are also going to result in political discussions.

What you guys really should be punishing are any overt attempt to troll, defame, persecute or otherwise attack a particular religious or political group, member of said group of an individual member based on their affiliation. Such behavior should be treated in the same way as racism or sexism.

I also don't buy the "fair" moderation where both the attacker and the attacked are punished simply for engaging rather than ignoring an offense. As long at the person defending does not attack the attacker, I don't see anything wrong with clearing up misconceptions especially if they are relevant to the content or themes of a movie.

Another alternative is to create another section where people can discuss politically or religiously charged movies but I believe the same rules of punishing attackers or bullies should apply there as well.