On Earth we have Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, etc. What is the name of the Bajoran faith? "Bajorism"?
Does the Bajoran Religion Have a Name?
- Thread starter Joanna McCoy-Kirk
- Start date
Hm, interesting question. I don't think they ever called it anything specific. Come to think of it, it's kind of weird that there only seemed to be this one religion on Bajor. Unless you count the followers of the Cult of the Pah-wraiths as their own distinct religion. But it's more like a denomination, I guess.
Other ideas for possible names for their religion: Prophetism, Celestialism, Templerism, Kaiism, Orbism.
Other ideas for possible names for their religion: Prophetism, Celestialism, Templerism, Kaiism, Orbism.
If it was the only religion for any stretch of time, and remains the dominant "expected" religion, I can see why they might never have gotten around to giving it a name.
Wouldn't that be like saying that mean that Satanism should be considered a denomination of Christianity?
It's such an ubiquitous part of Bajoran life that it probably didn't really need a specific name until the Bajorans came under the spheres of influence of outside powers such as the Cardassians and the Federation with their various (and potentially competing) beliefs, much like the term "Hinduism" was a later coining that attempted to categorize the religious beliefs of India to differentiate them from belief systems that came from elsewhere. Similar with "Confucianism" and pre-modern East Asia.
Kor
Kor
Judaism mean the faith of the people of Judea. Not very original (and much in keeping with calling the Bajoran religion the Bajoran religion0=).
So, Bajoranism?
Simply the Bajoran Religion. Not even on earth all religions had names throughout; Ancient Greek Religion, Ancient Roman Religion, Old Nordic Religion etc. As they are revived today they get names like "Neopagan Helenism" but back then they didn't have any.
As for it being the only religion on Bajor...well most of the alien cultures we see on the show seem to be global, including their religions (if they are mentioned) all Bajorans seem to believe in the Prophets (to varying degrees) and all Klingons seem to believe in all that stuff with them slaying their own gods and the two afterlives and the Klingon devil and so forth.
As for it being the only religion on Bajor...well most of the alien cultures we see on the show seem to be global, including their religions (if they are mentioned) all Bajorans seem to believe in the Prophets (to varying degrees) and all Klingons seem to believe in all that stuff with them slaying their own gods and the two afterlives and the Klingon devil and so forth.
We also have to remember that Bajorans are ancient. Picard, a man not all that prone to exaggeration (or mistakes), claims they were building cities when humans still had problems with staying erect, and I trust this refers to at least 500,000 years ago rather than 1998.
In all that time, it would have been pretty simple to weed out every single seed of dissent, and to establish mechanisms to prevent further ones from emerging. Attempts to the contrary would be harder to pull off: while the culture may appear technologically backward at times, it clearly is truly global, and has a unified and rigid caste system, or at least did until some aliens from outer space ruined it.
Mankind has nothing even remotely comparable to that sort of stability. It would almost have to be the antithesis of originality, and therefore a strong counterindication to dissent of any sort. This even though the Prophets aren't exactly an everyday presence, as even their Tears only recently (10,000 years ago!) appeared and presented a direct if ambiguous hotline...
OTOH, while Klingons may be spring chickens like us, they, too, seem to be in rather direct touch with the divinely supernatural, through those time crystals of theirs (it's really thrilling when Tenavik speaks of Qo'noS as the namesake of ol' Kronos himself, supposedly not for no reason!), and might get a fairly simple choice between the Demonstrably Right Religion and all the Falsies.
Of course, it seems likely that most Trek cultures have been visited by gods of some sort at some point: after all, Earth got that treatment so many times that it would be statistically unfair for Andor or Pakledistan to miss out. But not all of them would leave a lasting impact, nor would they so clearly demonstrate powers beyond the comprehension of mere 24th century humans. You can't not believe in Q, but you don't need to build a religion around him if you're a 24th century human. Yet you most certainly can if you want to, even if he then gets to be the God of Lies. And for certain other types of culture, this might not be a matter of choice. At least Q usually doesn't impose himself unduly on anybody, for more than 45 minutes on a stretch anyway. Apollo or Kukulkan or, say, Nagilum would.
Timo Saloniemi
In all that time, it would have been pretty simple to weed out every single seed of dissent, and to establish mechanisms to prevent further ones from emerging. Attempts to the contrary would be harder to pull off: while the culture may appear technologically backward at times, it clearly is truly global, and has a unified and rigid caste system, or at least did until some aliens from outer space ruined it.
Mankind has nothing even remotely comparable to that sort of stability. It would almost have to be the antithesis of originality, and therefore a strong counterindication to dissent of any sort. This even though the Prophets aren't exactly an everyday presence, as even their Tears only recently (10,000 years ago!) appeared and presented a direct if ambiguous hotline...
OTOH, while Klingons may be spring chickens like us, they, too, seem to be in rather direct touch with the divinely supernatural, through those time crystals of theirs (it's really thrilling when Tenavik speaks of Qo'noS as the namesake of ol' Kronos himself, supposedly not for no reason!), and might get a fairly simple choice between the Demonstrably Right Religion and all the Falsies.
Of course, it seems likely that most Trek cultures have been visited by gods of some sort at some point: after all, Earth got that treatment so many times that it would be statistically unfair for Andor or Pakledistan to miss out. But not all of them would leave a lasting impact, nor would they so clearly demonstrate powers beyond the comprehension of mere 24th century humans. You can't not believe in Q, but you don't need to build a religion around him if you're a 24th century human. Yet you most certainly can if you want to, even if he then gets to be the God of Lies. And for certain other types of culture, this might not be a matter of choice. At least Q usually doesn't impose himself unduly on anybody, for more than 45 minutes on a stretch anyway. Apollo or Kukulkan or, say, Nagilum would.
Timo Saloniemi
Faith of the Heart?
:ducks:
:ducks:
You are right, “denomination” was the wrong word to use there. They are more like a cult or sect, I would say. What I think is interesting is the fact that they are basically the only other “religion” we know to exist on Bajor, and yet their believe system is still based on the same aliens from the wormhole. They did say the Pah-wraiths were prophets once, right?
EDIT: Although, looking at Memory Alpha, it doesn't seem all that clear-cut. They say that the Pah-wratish “once resided in the Celestial Temple alongside the Prophets”, which makes it seem like they are a separate entity.
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As @Timo said, the civilization is so old that to them it’s not “a” religion but simply religion. Maybe Bajor is the name of the faith, made the name of the planet/people.
I kind of wish we’d see more of the effect of the ancient Bajorans on neighboring worlds. If they were artists and philosophers who spread culture hundreds of thousands of years ago, maybe some of of that survived in different ways in different worlds — like Hellenism on Earth.
I kind of wish we’d see more of the effect of the ancient Bajorans on neighboring worlds. If they were artists and philosophers who spread culture hundreds of thousands of years ago, maybe some of of that survived in different ways in different worlds — like Hellenism on Earth.
I read this and got a mental picture of Roy Orbison being a messiah figure for the Bajorans. Maybe the other Wilburys are his disciples?
I read this and got a mental picture of Roy Orbison being a messiah figure for the Bajorans. Maybe the other Wilburys are his disciples?
Only the prophets (dum-dumb-dummy doo-wah)
Know the way I feel tonight (ooh yay, yay, yay, yeah)
Only the prophets (dum-dumb-dummy doo-wah)
Know this pagh ain't right (dum-dumb-dummy doo-wah)
Well, in the pilot, Bajor is said to be divided to such an extent between factions, that only religion could hold them together. if the Kai would call for unity. So if that stability is there, it hasn't been there as an unbreakable constant over all that time.
Within the religion itself, there are at least several orders. There is talk of orthodox and informal orders, and there probably are more degrees of freedom. At least one Vedek was defrocked for publicly disagreeing with the Vedek Assembly viewpoint. So there seems to be a certain amount of variation and disagreement (perhaps even dissent), both within and beyond the borders of their "church".
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