"In our general forums we're reverting to our previous standards and restrict political and religious topics that have absolutely no connection to our site's theme (e-books, reading, publishing, etc.).
For anyone who is genuinely interested in discussing politics and religion, we've set in place a special usergroup ('Hardened Debaters').
Joining this usergroup means you wish to access our new Politics and Religion forum section and that you agree that you can handle the discussions that take place there in a mature and respectable manner. It goes without saying that our guidelines in terms of discussing things politely still apply.
So, if you're for these types of discussions, go to Group Memberships in your control panel and click on "Join Group" to join the "Hardened Debaters" group. That's all there's to it, you should now be able to see the Politics and Religion discussion forum on the main forum index. Leave the group at any time if you want to opt out again."
Taken from:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...15&postcount=1