All right, enough screwing around.
Most recently in this series I looked at Star Trek: Voyager, which is my least favorite
show in the franchise.
Here’s the cast having their photo taken at JC Penney, by the way.
So now I think it’s only fair that turn my attention to my favorite Star Trek show.
Deep Space Nine!
But this isn’t as simple as it seems.
After all, what facet of Deep Space Nine should I examine?
The character of Gul Dukat, arguably the most compelling and three-dimensional of all Star
Trek villains?
Or perhaps the mystery of how Odo is able to assume not only the form but also apparently
the mass of much smaller objects?
The glorious overacting of Avery Brooks?
All excellent future topics.
But for this first trip through the wormhole – [snicker] – because – anyway – I
think I’ll take a look at how Deep Space Nine handles a complex subject better than
any other Star Trek show.
That subject is religion, and I’ll examine it in this video, which I’m calling
How Deep Space Nine Actually Gets Religious Tolerance Right.
Deep Space Nine is hardly the first Star Trek show to portray religion.
But it does deal with it much more explicitly, and feature more overtly religious characters
than its counterpart series in the franchise.
Before DS9, the subject was mostly alluded to rather than presented head-on.
In the original series, it’s typically shown to be a means of manipulating less advanced
species.
The religious beliefs of Captain Kirk and his crew are left ambiguous, and it’s left
to our imaginations whether life for most citizens of the Federation includes a spiritual
component at all.
Diversity and pluralism seem to be cherished values, so we can assume any religious communities
that do exist are treated with respect and afforded equality under the law, but in the
big picture Federation society seems pretty secular, organized not around religious beliefs,
but around principles that presumably most everyone can agree on: democracy, science,
and coming to work in your pajamas.
And when we get to The Next Generation it’s very much the same thing, minus the pajamas.
But only every once in awhile.
Figured I’d get it outta the way early this time.
Anyway, all this changes when we get to Deep Space Nine.
Okay, the uniforms still look like pajamas, but in terms of religion, it’s obvious from
the very first episode that this series is going to be very different.
The space station after which the series is named is located near a wormhole which the
people of the nearby planet Bajor revere as a celestial temple, the home of their gods,
who the Bajorans call the Prophets.
The lead protagonist of the series, Benjamin Sisko, is not only the starfleet officer in
command of the station, but also viewed by the Bajorans as a holy figure, the Emissary
of the Prophets whose coming was foretold by their scriptures.
By the end of the series, it’s been revealed that the Prophets are responsible for Sisko’s
very existence, and that he had been conceived specifically for the purpose of becoming the
Emissary.
Not only that, but Sisko – who begins the series extremely uncomfortable with his role
in Bajoran theology – comes to accept his role as the Emissary by the end of the series.
Not only is it difficult to imagine, say, Captain Kirk or Captain Picard in a role like
this – it’s difficult to imagine the creators of Star Trek: The Original Series or Star
Trek: The Next Generation making the process of coming to terms with being a holy figure
in another culture’s religion a major part of their long-term character development.
When you judge the show by the expectations set up by the previous series, it’s remarkable
that the creators of Deep Space Nine chose to tell the story of Sisko the Emissary at
all.
But as I said, that’s all long term stuff.
Sisko’s emissary storyline is not a part of every episode.
It’s only the focal point of a handful of episodes throughout the show’s seven year
run.
For the rest of this video, I want to look at something a bit more specific.
It’s an episode about the delicate balancing act necessary when living in a religiously
pluralistic society, and about the tensions that can arise when one group decides respecting
differing beliefs – even ones based on science – is too much of a compromise.
It’s the final episode of season one, titled “In the Hands of the Prophets.”
In the teaser we see Keiko O’Brien, who is the school teacher on the station, instructing
the students – including Commander Sisko’s son Jake, Jake’s best buddy Nog, and a bunch
of Bajoran children who don’t have names, and I think they know why – because they’re
extras.
This day’s lesson is about the wormhole, which makes sense since they live on a space
station that is right next to it.
Before the lesson can really get going, a woman enters the classroom.
And Keiko thinks, “Oh, Jesus, I’m having that dream again where the station morphs
into the psychiatric hospital from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest!
There’s Nurse Ratched!
And there’s Frederickson, Ellis, Billy – wait, those are from other series – I’m really
starting to lose it.
Where was I?
There’s Cheswick, Harding, Chief, Martini . . .”
That’s right!
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest jokes!
Because I want my demographics to skew as old as possible.
Donate to my Patreon, retirees!
You can’t all have grandchildren.
Anyway, Keiko says to the students, “Yeah, this wormhole of ours is pretty cool, right?
Let’s see – it leads to the other side of the galaxy, it’s stable, it’s artificially
constructed–”
And Big Nurse is like, “You know what worries me, Billy, is how your mother is going to
take this.”
[Winn:] “Keiko!
I’m not Nurse Ratched!
I’m Vedek Winn!
Get your head in the game.”
[Keiko:] “Sorry.
What did you actually say?”
[Winn:] “I said, why you teaching these Bajoran children all this science?
That ain’t no wormhole out there, that’s our Celestial Temple, baby!”
And Keiko’s like, “Okay, those are your religious beliefs and I respect those, but
I’m not teaching them religion – I’m teaching them science.”
And Winn’s like, “You’re teaching them blasphemy – and I’m gonna shut you down!”
And she leaves and Keiko’s standing there thinking, “Are we sure she’s not Nurse
Ratched?
Because . . .”
So we’re set up pretty neatly for a science vs. religion showdown.
But what I love about this episode is, that’s not what it winds up being about at all.
Instead of pitting Keiko’s starfleet approved secular science lesson against the dogmas
of Winn’s church to see which version will be taught in the station’s classroom – which
could easily have happened, because Star Trek writers never tire of dramatizing trials,
hearings, or arbitration of any kind – the story becomes about how these people with
clashing worldviews are going to be able to live together, and whether that’s even possible.
Sisko hopes it’s possible, but has his doubts.
Even though Vedek Winn represents an orthodox sect that doesn’t wield much influence within
the Bajoran church, lots of the Bajorans on the station agree with her that the religious
view of the wormhole should be taught – including Major Kira, who suggests to Keiko that she
should teach students about the Celestial Temple, or else maybe they should have a separate
school for the Bajoran kids.
And Keiko is like, “No, screw that, we’re having one school and when it’s time for
science class, I’m teachin’ ‘em science!”
And Kira’s like, “This is gonna be tough to resolve, because we have two opposing philosophies
here.”
And Keiko says, “I’m not teaching any philosophy.
I’m just teaching the kids about the wormhole from a scientific point of view.”
And Kira says, “That is a philosophy, you numbskull.”
And Keiko’s like, “I can’t believe we’re actually arguing about this in whatever the
hell year this is.”
And Kira’s like, “It’s year 913 of the Seventh Era,”
And Keiko’s like, “Not on your planet’s calendar, fool.”
And Kira’s like, “What’d you just say to me, bi–”
And Sisko’s like, “I – heh – I can see there’s a lot of tension in the room,
so why don’t I just go talk to Vedek Winn about this, huh?
I’m sure if we discuss this like two reasonable adults, we can reach a compromise that will
satisfy everyone.”
And Winn’s like, “You tell that school teacher that I am on a mission from the Prophets
and if she doesn’t cut out the science, I will wreck her.
Savvy?
Go ask the last chump who crossed me how he feels.
Only, don’t expect him to say much.”
And Sisko’s like, “Well, so much for that.
Oh well, at least things can’t get any worse!”
And then Winn says to Keiko, “Hey, how about we just agree to disagree and you don’t
teach anything about the wormhole?”
And Keiko says, “Um, no, I’m not gonna not teach my students about science just because
some of it conflicts with the non-scientific views of your church.”
And Winn says, “Okay, then me and my Bajoran crew are ooooooooooutta here!”
And then a bunch of the Bajoran crew members stop showing up for work in protest, and then
somebody blows up the school, and it turns out that someone was Neela, a Bajoran member
of O’Brien’s engineering team, who later tries to assassinate Vedek Bareil, a more
moderate member of the Bajoran church and main rival to Vedek Winn.
Neela’s assassination attempt is foiled when Sisko takes her out with a spear that
isn’t quite of Goldbergian quality, but still way better than that half-assed tackle
Roman Reigns calls a finish.
Anyway, Odo drags Neela away while she’s all like “I did it for the prophehhhhhhhts!”
And Kira turns on Winn and goes, “You asshole, you set up this entire thing just to lure
Bareil to the station so you could kill him, didn’t you?”
And Winn’s just like, “Whatever,” and turns and walks away.
Later, in Ops, Kira seems a little bummed about the whole “religious leader orchestrating
a bombing and an attempted assassination” thing.
And she tells Sisko, “You know, I guess I supported Winn because I just wanted my
faith to be as strong as hers.”
And Sisko says, “Maybe it is.
Because orthodoxy and extremism aren’t the standards by which we measure strength of
faith.
To do that would be to treat the fundamentalists like they had a monopoly on religious authenticity,
as though only extremists can ever be true believers, as if their version of their religion
was the correct one and the only difference between them and moderates was that moderates
just weren’t as committed!
And that!
Ha ha ha ha!
That would be ludicrous!”
Okay, so out of all of that he only actually said “Maybe it is.”
I inferred the rest.
The point of the episode doesn’t end up being “Science good, religion bad,” or
vice versa.
Rather, the point is that when your society includes people of many different religious
faiths, and people of no religious faith, ultimately you have to figure out a way that
you can all coexist peacefully, fairly, and honestly.
That doesn’t mean deferring to religious people in every conflict between the sacred
and the secular.
But nor does it mean erasing religious folks, or dismissing their concerns out of hand.
Lines have to be drawn, and extremism should be recognized as a threat to everyone, religious
or not, and treated as such, but the extremists – like Vedek Winn – shouldn’t be allowed
to speak for the entirety of their faiths.
There’s a scene between Commander Sisko and Jake that takes place a short while after
Vedek Winn has announced that she and a group of Bajorans are boycotting Keiko’s school.
It’s a scene that sums up not only the theme of this episode, but the general attitude
toward religion demonstrated by Deep Space Nine.
It’s a simple scene, but a great one, and it’s actually the main reason I wanted to
make this video.
It goes a little something like this.
Jake comes home from school and tells his dad that Keiko decided to teach her five remaining
students about the persecution of Galileo, because she’s not really into subtlety.
Jake’s a smart kid, so he made the connection between the Catholic Church’s reaction to
Galileo’s heliocentrism and Vedek Winn’s opposition to Keiko teaching the scientific
facts about the wormhole right away.
Then Jake says, “This argument is silly.
They’re not prophets in a Celestial Temple.
They’re freaky aliens in a wormhole.
Where do the Bajorans get such stupid ideas?”
And Sisko says, “Don’t say ‘stupid,’ okay?
It’s ableist.”
And Jake says, “Well, what am I supposed to say instead?”
And Sisko says, “I don’t know.
Jesus.
Get a vocabulary.
I was just thinking how smart you were like two seconds ago.
Never mind.
Look, my point is this: to you, the religious beliefs of the Bajorans might seem foolish,
but look at the facts: there is a wormhole out there, and there are entities with remarkable
abilities in that wormhole.
If the Bajorans call it a Celestial Temple instead, and think of those powerful entities
as Prophets, maybe it’s just a matter of interpretation.
“And I’ll tell you something else, ya little smartass: don’t forget that the Bajorans
just got done living through a decades-long military occupation by the Cardassians.
For a lot of them, their religion was all they had to lean on.
And maybe they feel a very close connection to that church, a connection not based on
the plausibility of its beliefs, but rather on the role the church as an institution played
in the history of their community.
And maybe we should keep that in mind and not judge them so harshly for remaining loyal
to a church that includes beliefs which seem silly to us.
And it’s me, the first black character to lead a Star Trek series, saying this, because
this show has layers.”
And Jake is like, “Jesus, if you’re gonna explain it to death why even bother?”
Anyway.
Good episode.
And a fine example of Deep Space Nine’s complex depiction of the challenges of building
a pluralistic society where religion is treated with respect but not allowed to displace science
or serve as a shield for extremism.
That’s it.
This concludes my presentation.
Oh, come on.
We did this already.
I mean . . . You, I tried to find a shirtless photo of Sisko because I thought that would
be a fun riff on this bit, but I couldn’t find one.
You know why I think that is?
Because Avery Brooks doesn’t give it away like this guy.
Tart.