What does it mean to "have an honest, open discussion about [X]?"?

I saw a post hereabouts recently where a Jelly expressed a desire for an honest discussion about religion in the wake of the 10th anniversary of 9/11. What exactly is that supposed to mean? To accomplish? How would it work? Who would be involved? Who wouldn’t be involved?

I ask because the whole exercise (based on extrapolations of the term ‘discussion’) seems kinda pointless.