[Hermanator]

You can view the article at http://ufplanets.com/content.php?258-Deep-Thought

[Mazoue]

Thank you very much for your article Hermanator. It was very insightful. I don't disagree that religion has served for a tool for good and bad but I think religion has it's place. Though I do not practice religion myself, I do have faith. I will not discourage religion, only that for me, in the now, it serves me no purpose for me and this probably because I've witness too many times how religion can be twisted into serving an agenda.

With regards to religion in Star Trek and more on the your topic, I do feel that he made a good decision. There is nothing wrong with being expose to the full pallet that religion has to offer, the good and the bad, simply because remaining ignorant about it will only do us a disservice in my opinion.

[Hermanator]

Thank you for feedback. I wrote this article quite a while back, and felt whilst re-reading it before publish that it was one of my weaker articles. My views on religion have certainly changed from Agnostic to Anti-Theist (key difference on Anti-Theist and Atheist), by this I mean i'm still unsure whether or not God does exist, if he does I don't like him - but thats rather complex probably not best spoken about on here. Despite this I think I still agree with the tone of the article.

I hope my next article, which is still on the theme of the Bajoran people, will be a better read.

[Soral]

I found DS9 to be my favorite of the series based partially on the fact that it tackled such a large topic as "religion." Although I don't claim to be religious by nature, I found that the topic of religion as it was depicted in the show really spoke to humanity's strengths and weaknesses. Star Trek has always been willing to tackle the "tough topics" and I thought that not only did Rick Berman continue that legacy, I think the series did so in probably the most respectful, but yet real way possible. Every major theme that the series took on stayed true to that core discussion of religion. Whether it was Bajorons, Klingons, or the Dominion...they all (at some point) showed the impact that religion and belief played within their society. Which made the shows ever so important and meaningful for the viewers. Just in the way that TOS and TNG episodes were meaningful in their own way for the topics they covered, DS9 took it to the next level by basing an entire series around that central theme...doing so tastefully and enjoyably at the same time.

Good article. I look forward to your next piece.

[DevlinTrask]

Good Article again Hermanator. And YES I think it was a great idea to bring Religion into DS9. A lot of good episodes circled around the religious aspect of the series and I don't think it was always to positive the bajoran religion was displayed. If you read the new DS9 books as well you will see how the authors play with this aspect as well and without the prophets, the orbs and the emissary DS9 wouldn't be the series I love.

[Kern]

While I agree that they were right to bring religion into the Star Trek scope, I personally thought that many of the stories revolving around the Bajoran religion were lacking. When watching DS9 I never really got the feeling that religion was an involving topic in the show. Maybe it was something to do with my personal dislike of the Bajorans that influenced it, I'm not entirely sure. All I can honestly say is I thought the topic lacked depth in DS9.

[Christopher Halsey]

I think it was great that they introduced religion.

I understand how controversial religion can be sometimes so I understand why Star Trek may have avoided it for so long but when dealing with thousands of alien species and cultures to not have any religious aspect just seems wrong.

The only thing I'm not too sure about in the implementation of religion was the Prophets themselves. I liked the fact that there was debate as to whether the Prophets were divine or just very advanced and alien however the fact that whatever they were they definitely existed potentially took something away.

The Bajorans built their religion from their interactions with the Prophets by way of the Orb discoveries which are very tangible, in our major religions aside from holy texts (which could have been written by anyone) there isn't really anything tangible that supports the existence of a divine being or beings so faith is a very important aspect of those beliefs. For the Bajorans their 'Gods' are tangible and I think that raises the question as to does that diminish their faith in anyway as there can be no argument as to whether or not that Prophets exist only whether or not they count as being divine or not.

It might have been interesting to see if they could have found a way to introduce the Prophets as actual entities later on in the show or left it ambiguous as to whether they did actually exist or not. I don't know if that would have made for a more entertaining show and there is a good chance it wouldn't have but it might have been interesting for the religious aspect of the show.

I also loved the set up of the Founders. The Vorta and the Jem'Hadar constantly referring to the Founders as 'Gods' was great as we as the audience look at the Founders and don't see 'Gods' we just see an advanced alien lifeform. That said the Founders did essentially create both races and isn't that what 'Gods' do? I loved that as it makes you question what are the requirements of being a divine being? How much more is there other than the power of creation or to what degree must those powers be? Where do you draw the line between 'God' and advanced? Science has allowed us to do many things that at one point could easily be mistaken for magic, just as it has given the Founders the power to create other races so where do you draw that line? Fascinating stuff.

[Hermanator]

Not 100% sure about the orbs, but I always considered them to be similar to al-Ḥajar al-Aswad, which supposedly fell from Heaven. From my knowledge there are very few to none Christian relics of the same level, but that seems to be because they prefer relics of saints and deities then directly from God.

[Noram]

I think that Berman was right to bring religion into the show, not just because it let him tell some interesting stories, but also because at it's core Star Trek is meant to explore the various aspects of humanity, and before DS9 had been giving very little thought to what is, for many people, a core part of their humanity

[Leoferwic]

Thank you both Hermanator and Christopher Halsey for some interesing opinions, it is making me want to watch some DS9 episodes as I've sadly only seen 1 or 2. I had not really considered the impact of including religion in the Star Trek universe, I assumed that it would be treated in the fashion of "You do your thing, I'll do mine" while making observations about the belief systems of the various alien races without passing judgement upon them.

[Hermanator]

Thank you both Hermanator and Christopher Halsey for some interesing opinions, it is making me want to watch some DS9 episodes as I've sadly only seen 1 or 2. I had not really considered the impact of including religion in the Star Trek universe, I assumed that it would be treated in the fashion of "You do your thing, I'll do mine" while making observations about the belief systems of the various alien races without passing judgement upon them.

Stay at it. I always have said that there are two types of DS9 fans; those who love it and those who haven't got past the first 2 seasons.

[Soral]

Stay at it. I always have said that there are two types of DS9 fans; those who love it and those who haven't got past the first 2 seasons.

Which is understandable. I've watched the entire series from start to finish recently and those two seasons they were still "tweaking" bits and parts of the character and overall direction of where they wanted to go. Season 3 they really settled in to what became the overall arch of the series and it was awesome from there out.

I sometimes refer to those fans as "before Defiant and after Defiant" fans.

[Vox]

When DS9 first aired it wasn't always my favourite Trek. I watched it through all 7 seasons and although it had a few good episodes at the beginning the Religion and political aspects I didn't really get nor care for. (I was 6 when DS9 first starting airing back in '93.) I started liking it more from Season 3 onwards when the war storyline started and it became more actiony.

However as I got older and went back and watched the show and could understand all of it better it's one of my favourite Trek's.

[Christopher Halsey]

I know that a lot of people weren't happy with the start of DS9 and like most I found the first season a little rough around the edges but then I think that is true of every Star Trek series after TOS. I think most people regard Season 3 as when it started getting good and whilst I agree that the bar was raised but the 2nd season I think was actually pretty strong, there was the great 3 episode story arc that kicked off the season, the Maquis 2 part episode and of course the first appearance of the Dominion.

To anyone that hasn't watched DS9 or gave up on it I would really recommend giving it a chance, sure it has some low points but the highs are fantastic.

[Solace]

Great Article,

I have to say that the concept of religion is a difficult one to discuss as it can cause some debate and conflicting views over beliefs, but I'd have to say in hindsight, I really enjoyed the concept of the Bajoran religion.

It was a different take on how one world developed and how their faith in their deity or the 'Prophets' allowed them to survive during an occupation of their homeworld and their eventual triumph over the cardassians.

I also enjoy the way it's approached as well, while trying to relate to some of the real world problems faced today, I must say that it did not rely on strife and religion based civil wars and or interpretations of that religion, overhand it seemed to try to create a "What if" scenario. It seemed to create the what if religion became a total world belief and how would that affect the fundamental development of the Bajorans.