You have a lot to do to try and bring this section back to what it was but the following may be points you may want to consider:

1) Respect the freedom of expression of members, especially when they operate withing the rules. Hiding posts and threatening members with a ban when they try to express themselves frustrate their efforts and make them feel undervalued.

2) Allow quality topics to make it to the front page, irrespective of who opens them and the day of the week. The section is not just for Christians and we need not wait till Sunday for topics from here to make it to the front page.

3) I believe strongly that one way of encouraging 'free speech' and self expression of members is an avenue for them to interact with the mod(s) directly. This was achieved by the complaints thread. Scrapping it seemed to be a good idea at first but now, its obvious that the strategy did not work, at least for this section.

4) Allow members to have a healthy rivalry. This was the hallmark of the Religion section back in the hay days. A rivalry amongst them may make them forget about the Admin for a while. Disrupt that rivalry (as it is the case now) and you make allies of the various faction against the Admin.

5) Etc.

Thank you for taking the time to share your valuable suggestions with us, sir. We will surely consider them, and use the ones we agree with.