If flaming is against the rules, why is religion/politics?l

[Dubious Pie]

If flaming is against the rules, why is religion/politics off limits? I mean no disrespect, I am just curious.

[JRKlein]

Because those topics inevitably lead to flamewars.

[Tirian]

Because The Giant is paying for this space and that's the way he wants it. I've seen enough debates about whether the Star Wars prequel trilogy is awesome or garbage to appreciate his sentiment that there are topics where everybody talks and nobody is embiggened at the end of it.

Fortunately, there are no lack of forums where you can talk about politics and religion all day long if that's what floats your boat.

[Dubious Pie]

Tirian's answer is "because it is".
I agree that it often leads to flamewars, but it leads to good threads getting locked, and there is so many references to RL religion in RPGs, which means that many very good RPGs are off limits for discussion, thus driving people away. And where do you draw the line? Is the Greek pantheon OK because it is so old, and (almost?) no one worships it anymore?

[Roland St. Jude]

Sheriff of Moddingham: As mentioned, pretty much because those are topics that: 1) The Giant doesn't want to host a forum for; 2) tend to lead to flamewars, significant hostilities, and longer term grudges; and 3) it would take far more mod time than a group of volunteer mods could ever put forth to monitor, keep on track, and hand out Infractions for to manage.

The no real world politics/religion rule is pretty much of the same vintage as the no flaming rule. They came in together as part of what The Giant wanted this Forum to be like.