It's because there are two things you should never discuss with extended family or friends (if you want to keep them as friends): Politics and religion. Everyone has clear beliefs on these matters and is sure they are right and that anyone who differs is wrong. This is why we have a separation of church and state, by the way. I won't go into it, but any discussion of these items will always degrade into fights, there's simply no avoiding it, so the mods are the doing the right thing by preventing them being discussed here in the first place.