MAybe the sitemap will do it - I know the last time I checked IPB itself it was only very partially spidered. I used a similar workaround with a sitemap when I used YaBB SE, and that was very poor for indexing.
The comparative-religion forum was actually started in another format in April, but relaunched as comparative-religion.com forums in June. It was a YaBB SE Supermod until August, when I imported it into vBulletin.
And, yes...those original ideas - too many other people have had mine.
There are quite a few different religious forums around - each tends to be extremely different, though. I've tried to make that one extremely neutral to all positions. The site Christian Forums, for example, is obviously not.