June 20th, 1993, "In the Hands of the Prophets"
Fiver by Derek (alternatively check out the
comic adaptation)
(I don't recall us having comic adaptations, when did that happen?)
The Episode
KEIKO: Since when did you become such an expert on jumja sticks?
I remember how much of the making-of book focused on glop on a stick. They'll appear here and there in the series in the background, but I think these things failed at the prop stage. A sucker at that size and shape is unwieldy at best and ludicrous at worst. I'll skip the rest of the screed.
O'BRIEN: Oh, Neela told me.
KEIKO: Did she? So, is she working out any better than the last one?
O'BRIEN: Who, Neela? She's terrific.
Another bit of the making-of book focused on Neela/Anara (it's complicated, go look at their Memory Alpha pages). I don't think they thought the character through sufficiently. There was going to be more overt jealousy from Keiko about O'Brien's Bajoran apprentice, but the first season was not the place to have any of this. Keiko took so much time adjusting to life on the station that we as the viewers have to be convinced that the O'Brien's marriage was hard as a rock. If Keiko was that unhappy an affair would drive her back to the Enterprise easily.
WINN: Excuse me. By entities, do you not mean the Prophets?
KEIKO: Yes, on Bajor the entities are worshipped as prophets. Our studies of the wormhole have shown that it was formed by unique particles we call verterons that are apparently self-sustaining in nature. This begins to explain how a ship at impulse can safely pass through
WINN: Ships are safely guided through the passage by the hands of the Prophets.
KEIKO: In a manner of speaking.
WINN: Not apparently in your manner of speaking.
Oh boy, here we go. I'm going to have to tackle each of Winn's "complaints" in turn. I don't think that the Prophets actually guide ships though the wormhole. After all, we see that the wormhole is a clear passage, with only the
verteron nodes as a navigational hazard. I don't think the Prophets are responsible for shoving the nodes out of the way of ships going through.
WINN: Do you believe the Celestial Temple of the Prophets exists within the passage?
KEIKO: I respect that the Bajoran people believe that it does.
Exactly. Although this one seems a little pedantic, this is the statement that doesn't require a faith/science debate. There are aliens in the wormhole that let the Bajorans refer to them as Prophets without proposing an alternate identity, who let the Bajorans refer to their home as the Celestial Temple without proposing an alternative designation.
KEIKO: No, I don't teach Bajoran spiritual beliefs. That's your job. Mine is to open the children's minds to history, to literature, to mathematics, to science.
WINN: You are opening the children's minds to blasphemy, and I cannot permit it to continue.
The Wikitionary entry for "blasphemy" goes...
1. An act of irreverence or contempt toward a god or toward something considered sacred; an impious act, utterance, view, etc.
2. An act of irreverence towards anything considered inviolable; the act of disregarding a convention.
"Irreverance" means acting without proper respect towards something others think of as sacred. Okay, you could argue that from the Bajoran perspective anyone who attempts any secular view of the Prophets is engaging in blasphemy. However, this is not the time or place for the Bajoran clergy to raise a fuss.
For that matter, we've seen multiple examples of different religions and philosophies existing in Trek in mutual respect. By all means, the Bajorans need to follow a path to achieve this, but it shouldn't include harrassing Keiko. To be frank, the Bajorans should've set up their own school as soon as the Occupation ended, it's too late now.
At the very least an official complaint should be made that Vedek Winn is harrassing Keiko in public. That's a matter of civil law, and if the fundamental sentient right to not be harassed is not in effect on the station there shouldn't be Federation civilians here.
KIRA: She's from an orthodox order. She has some support to become the next Kai. Probably not enough.
KEIKO: The question is, how much support does she have on this station?
KIRA: She has mine.
This is a surprise. I thought she was anti-Winn from Day One.
KEIKO: You can't possibly believe teaching the facts about the wormhole amounts to blasphemy?
KIRA: I think some revisions in the school curriculum might be appropriate. You teach a lot of Bajoran children.
Like I said, why didn't the Bajorans set up their own school right after the Occupation? And what changes does Kira mean? Winn clearly wants a full-blown Bajoran religious school, something Keiko isn't capable of giving.
KIRA: Then maybe we need two schools on the station. One for the Bajoran children, another for the Federation.
SISKO: If we start separating Bajoran and Federation interests
KIRA: A lot of Bajoran and Federation interests are separate, Commander.
Ugh, Vedek Winn's interests are not the same as Bajoran interests and they never will be. Looks like Kira hasn't realized that yet.
Sisko is going too far. The school arrangement should be what is best for the kids, not the governments. Even if Winn is using this situation as a proxy battle, Sisko shouldn't.
KIRA: But if she's teaching a fundamentally different philosophy
KEIKO: I'm not teaching any philosophy. What I'm trying to teach is pure science.
KIRA: Some might say pure science, taught without a spiritual context, is a philosophy, Mrs O'Brien.
Even if we grant that Kira's statement is correct (I'm not interesting in writing that screed), I fail to see the danger. Keiko has yet to show signs of wanting to secularize everything to the point of killing faith. She said outright that religious education is the clergy's job, because IT IS. In most religions today a person has to undergo lengthy training to become a spiritual teacher. Any certifications for teaching secular subjects are on top of the spiritual ones.
Winn only has a valid complaint if Keiko is using her position of authority to warp the children's minds by making them pledge allegiance to the flag of Atheism or something. And that isn't the truth, in fact both Keiko and Miles have shown belief in something bigger. For sake of argument let's say Keiko is Buddist and Miles is Catholic. Do they try to indoctinate the children into these religions? No, they don't.
WINN: Thank you, Emissary.
SISKO: I wish you wouldn't call me that. I'm Commander Sisko or Benjamin, if you like.
WINN: But you are the Emissary. Don't you know the cherished place you have earned in the Bajoran spiritual life?
I'm still having trouble with this idea. Has Sisko even talked with the Prophets between "Emissary" and now? For that matter, did he even have a spiritual message to deliver in "Emissary" beyond "The Prophets are real"?
(She reaches for his ear)
WINN: May I? (takes hold)
This whole reading the pagh thing never made sense to me. Are we to imply that with sufficient training Bajorans can become low-level touch telepaths, but only through proximity to a telepathic organ near the left ear? If so, they needed to tell us this. In fact, in my opinion the only positive outcome of all of this frippery is the story that Ro Laren has her earing on the left ear to ward off attempts to read her pagh.
Furthermore, just because Bajorans have this theoretical telepathic organ in this location, why would it be the same for humans?
WINN: I once asked Kai Opaka why a disbeliever was destined to seek the Prophets, and she told me one should never look into the eyes of one's own gods. I disagreed. I told her I would do anything to look into their eyes.
And yet Winn never altered herself enough to trigger an Orb vision. What does that tell you. For that matter, why hasn't Winn travelled to the wormhole in a runabout? It probably wouldn't have worked, but at least it would've given Winn the shove to reinvent herself and become worthy.
SISKO: It's important to me that we resolve your problems with the school.
WINN: The prophets have spoken to me through the orbs.
No, they haven't. How she sleeps at night is beyond me.