And this IS an art site, therefore it should be open to religious artwork as well as any other artwork that is already here It already is open to religious images, and plenty of them crop up. The point here is that there's a request for a forum based around a particular subject matter. All the other forums are based on software (e.g. Poser, Bryce) or topic (e.g. animation, HTML). Starting forums based around subject matter is not something that the PTB seem prepared to get into, and who can blame them? Think of the precedent it would create. Sci-fi, fantasy, faeries, mythical creatures, architecture, gothic and horror, historical and medieval, abstract and surreal, combat and weapons, 'glamour' (ahem), portraits, nature and landscape: all of those subjects would be way higher on the list if R'osity went down the road of subject matter forums. Why? Because all of them are much more frequently depicted in the galleries. As a measure of interest, that seems a reasonable yardstick. If you consider the long-term effects of this request, you're asking the PTB to begin re-organising the entire site around a completely different paradigm - subject matter. That's not going to happen while software companies sponsor the site. Another problem is that there is no possible way that the forum would stick to debating the images. The whole thing would be off into doctrinal debate in no time, and there's already a place for that: OT. And can you imagine trying to keep the discussions on track? Member 1: "I'll render the Holy Ghost attending the Council of Trent any damn way I please!" Member 2: "Burn, heretic!" Mod: "Please stick to discussing the images." Members: "Freedom of speech! Discrimination on religious grounds!" Lastly, opening a religious discussion forum on an art site just as Western politicians are brewing a Cold War against the Islamic world - sound inviting? It's easy enough to say "It'll work if everyone behaves well," but we all know that won't happen. Nor should it. It's foolish and willfully naive to think that people are going to have polite, neutral conversations about the beliefs by which they live their entire lives. People get angry about these subjects because these subjects matter. That's the way the world is supposed to be. That's a good thing for the human spirit but a crashing disaster for a moderator's chances of getting a wink of sleep at night ;-)