OK, obviously the word emissary means an envoy or representative, so Sisko was the representative or link between the Prophets and the Bajorans. But apart from that, what did the Prophets plan for the Emissary to do? Essentially Sisko did all that was planned in just seven years, so to me the Prophets planned him to: - Protect Bajor from the Cardassians - Protect Bajor from the Dominion - Make sure Bajor is safe in the future by ensuring it joins the Federation - Defeat Dukat (as the Emissary of the Pah Wraiths) and destroy the Kosst Amojan book So in essence, Sisko destroyed/warded off all of Bajor's major and existing (even future) threats.
I was under the impression there was a lot more to his role that those stuff we saw him do on DS9. That's why he went with the prophets in the end of the series...
I'm not sure if it was ever clear that Bajor was going to join the Federation, at the end. A defense pact with the Federation is great--but the destruction of their culture might not have been something the Prophets would've liked, in the end.
Bajor didn't join in season 5 because of the Dominion threat. With the war won, and the Cardassians in no shape to threaten Bajor, it may just succeed (since the Bajorans actually wanted to join, and would have if Sisko hadn't warned them not to).
Who cares what the prophets want. How about the advantages of superior resources and science? Ro Larren proved not all Bajorans were theists. Is cultural extinction really a possibililty? The closest we ever saw was A Piece of the Action and that was a pre-warp civilization.
Given that the Prophets' presence is necessary for the wormhole, and post-war there's reason to think the Federation and other powers might want passage through the wormhole, both for trade and to be able to verify that the Dominion really has retreated, then the Federation would certainly have an interest in making sure they don't come off as unduly meddling. Trade can be accomplished without joining the Federation. As for science, Vedek Bareil made it clear that there are Bajorans who have no problem whatsoever with science, and even used to draw others to study on their world, before they hit hard times. Nonbelief in the Prophets certainly isn't a precondition for either of those...only moving away from extremist/fundamentalist sects.
Indeed, who said that faith and science cannot co-exist, only the most radical on both sides say otherwise...
Off the title 'Emissary': I assume he spoke to Bajor on behalf of the Prophets, who chose to speak and work through him. He gave the the Bajorans messages, like "Don't join the Federation just yet or you'll be destroyed". He followed the prophets' guiding in finding B'hala.
Helping to found the Federation didn't do much to destroy Vulcan mysticism, I don't see how it's different for the Bajorans.
The Federation has over 150 members, which in fairness only handful we have ever seen. There could be other spiritual/religious peoples in it. And to be fair, most Trek species seem to have some religious beliefs, the only atheistic ones are perhaps the Cardassians and the Romulans perhaps. I don't think the Federation cares what religion a member world's species has, nor would do anything to interfere with or discourage it.
Shame we didn't see more of peoples faith from the humansExcept for star trek 5 but I try not to think about that.
Or Sisko's job was to ensure that the Bajorian people didn't join the Federation. Likely, but not certainly, the Romulans brought their faiths from Vulcan with them.
I'm sure the Romulans DO still have spiritual beliefs, we just don't see them doing anything. After all, they're a combo of the mystic Vulcans and Romans (who had their beliefs). Cardassians do have spiritual beliefs, but modern Cardassians suffer from state-enforced atheism (and we don't even know that, just that they aren't as spiritual as they used to be).
His main job was being the most bad-ass Commander (later Captain) in starfleet. I mean, how many times can you say without giggling "And on the seventh season, he became a god."
I like to think there's a lot more for Sisko to do as the Emissary. Otherwise why would the Prophets separate him from is new pregnant wife? That means there are more trials to come for Bajor (like in books or moives) that Sisko can show up to help with. In the books they have introduced a new big bad-ass race called the Acsendants that Sisko might need to fight some time.