The point still stands that it happened and it can happen again.
Why do the conversations have to take over threads anyway? They're infectious. Why not just VM/PM someone if you want to talk about religion? Or talk on skype? Or use email? Something so that people who try to keep up with the forums don't have to sift through pages of religion and arguments.
And I realize that there are other ways to derail threads, but do we really, /really/ need to have religion debates in threads? Is it really that important to talk about it here than somewhere else?