Hi Brian, I agree that freedom of speech is misunderstood, and is often abused, as much as I would love the shackles binding religious/political discussions being removed I really don't think that ax is mature enough for it, as Yoda says there is an element which lacks the ability to debate intelligently,

If you look back i believe the no politics rule came in after the near riotous arguments on here after the gulf war begun, some of those debates got really nasty, and if you look at the meaning of life thread it also showed that good debate can quickly fall into a debacle, i was really enjoying that thread and was trying (and i think was succeeding) to refrain from attacking religion and stick to the scientific argument, however others failed to do the same and i'm assuming that's why it was pulled,

I know that I cant really stand on the moral high ground as at times i have been drawn into some pretty horrendous arguments on ax and I think i was the reason one thread was removed, (i still defend my comments however using the report post button would probably have been a better idea)

so with this in mind I would recommend keeping the status quo, however would look forward to the debate if it is changed

Stevie