Did you consult the audit.log? Did you pump it through audit2allow? The audit2allow tool will even tell you if the issue can be fixed by setting a boolean on the SELinux config. Most of the stuff I have run into recently can be fixed by setting a boolean.
Yeah, SELinux does require learning it, but it adds a lot. I recently helped a friend of mine fix his PHP CMS because it was hacked. The PHP was high jacked and it started attacking other instances in hosting providers network. If only he had not turned off SELinux, it would have prevented outgoing connections from the http server.
I've had all sorts of weird errors over the years when I set up new CentOS machines.. one thing or the other. And then I remember to turn off SELinux, and it suddenly works. Over and over again.
It's going to take a lot of convincing to get me to leave SELinux on when it's caused so many problems over the years.