For me, if the rules ask for no religion or politics, then it shows me that the admins are sympathetic towards keeping the forum a happy environment.
Threads / posts are read far more often than they are written, and it's not always wise to make decisions based upon responses from regular members or their posts / polls.
It's often the silent objector who is most offended.
What is comfortable for one man can be incredibly uncomfortable for another, so preventing overly controversial subjects, such as politics, religion, sex, drugs, swearing and so on ensures that harmony exists.
The biggest turn off for any member is to read something that offends them and be faced with objecting, and risking the consequences of that objection, or to feel they should reserve their opinion, and feel isolated.
The argument "If you don't like it, don't read it" is highly controversial, and a much better approach is "Don't write it if they don't like it", and the easiest way to decide who 'they' are, is to see who's name is above the door.
Forum rules are best observed, like them or not. The minute we don't respect them then the forum becomes a free for all and won't last 2 minutes.
If it was down to me, I'd ban the lot of you just in case. :mrgreen: