Since I haven't looked at the Religion Forum much until relatively recently, I wonder if there isn't a bit of increasingly public fatigue behind any recent change.
And since your post mentioned politics, your post reminded me of a recent observation of mine, which I share simply to point out a contrast on this site and provide a little perspective about politics and religion as discussion topics.
As everyone following this thread probably knows by now, the Religion Forum allows debate and even what is called "antagonism."
There is not a comparable "Politics Forum" here in which conservatives and "liberals" (I will not happily concede this term to them) debate and even antagonize one another. Look at http://freerepublic.com/home.htm: "We're here to discuss and advance our conservative causes in a more or less liberal-free environment. We're not here to debate liberals."
If there were a parallel Politics Forum (or if all the existing forums were open to Liberal Debate), then the Religion Forum would probably be outshadowed in notoriety. (In other words, I do not mourn the lack of "progressives" on this forum, and probably neither do the moderators.)
Now, none of what I say here is intended to excuse any excesses on the Religion Forum--it's simply a little perspective that matters of faith aren't the only thing that leads to roiling discussion.
(No, I am not suggesting at all that "logical consistency" dictates either starting a political-debate forum or ending a religious-debate forum. I can see a number of reasons that a site that discourages Debating Liberals in its forums still has a forum that allows discussions of contrasting religious beliefs.)