Does the Bajoran Religion Have a Name?

[Replica Picard]

1) That makes no sense since Sisko only came to Bajor in recent history.

You are linear.

2)Even if we account for the Prophets living in non-linear time, if the religion was named "Siskoism" somebody, anybody, would have commented on that at some point during the 7 seasons of DS9.

Before he arrived, it was Sisqoism, because the Bajorans have prophecies that line up with the "Thong Song". Some people did mention it to Sisko, but it was off-camera, and consisted of comments and musical lyrics (and outfits) not appropriate for television with that rating, anyway.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

Doesn't that make it more of how an outsider might describe the religion, not the people who developed it and for whom it is organic?

Not necessarily, as the Bajoran religion is an organized one which is apparently being around for ten thousands of years and their civilization might have been in contact with other species for quite some time. But even if the first contact with the Cardies was the first time they met any outsiders, i guess at least at that time they would need need to define their beliefs under a name to explain it to others.

And to come back to human religions, a lot of of them use these kind of names for themselves.

 

[kkt]

Well Christianity is named after the son of god and since Sisko is basically the son of a prophet, perhaps it should be called Siskoism?

Perhaps after Sisko's death. Not during his life on the station. (If you asked the Apostles during Christ's life, they would probably have said they were Jews.)

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Well Christianity is named after the son of god and since Sisko is basically the son of a prophet, perhaps it should be called Siskoism?

Christianity isn't called the belief in the "son of god." It is called belief in the king, or in the annointed one. (For reference, the name was Yeshua ben Yosef).

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Not necessarily, as the Bajoran religion is an organized one which is apparently being around for ten thousands of years and their civilization might have been in contact with other species for quite some time. But even if the first contact with the Cardies was the first time they met any outsiders, i guess at least at that time they would need need to define their beliefs under a name to explain it to others.

The question is what they call their own religion. It would be like the people of Zhong Guo referring to themselves as Chinese when talking to one another.

 

[Orphalesion]

Honestly they'd probably really just say they're worshippers/followers of the Prophets, like the example with the ancient religions I brought earlier in the thread.
Or maybe something like the Worship of the Prophets, the Faith of the Propeths or the Way of the Prophets.

According to Memory Alpha, Dukat's little heresy with the Ptah Wraiths called themselves "The Cult of the Ptah Wraiths" and not something silly like "Wraithism"
So it's easy to guess that they called the Bajoran Religion something similar, as in the Cult/Faith/Worship/Way of the Prophets.
Not every religion has to be an "ism"

 

[Arpy]

I’m still inclined to believe Bajora is the faith and Bajoran the people. Maybe pagh or pa in the ancient tongue was ragh or ra and Ba jor Ra was Children of the inner Light, or something similar.

 

[Guy Gardener]

The Path of the Prophets.

 

[alpha_leonis]

I've always felt that Star Trek *lacks* religious diversity among its alien characters.

Babylon 5 had an awesome episode where Commander Sinclair introduces Earth's religious diversity to an alien audience. Star Trek had none of that. In fact, Bab-5's Ivanova was the *only* regular human character I can think of in any sci-fi series that followed any legitimate human religion (as opposed to a religion that was invented for the story. Case in point: Doctor Franklin.)

In Star Trek, *all* Vulcans were followers of Surak. *All* Klingons were followers of Kahless. *All* Bajorans were followers of the Prophets. *All* Ferengi based their lives on the Rules of Acquisition.

That was a narrative lack that could have been easily filled by other writers.

 

[kkt]

The Vulcans who weren't followers of Surak went to live on Romulus...

 

[Orphalesion]

Well, alien races in Star Trek lack cultural diversity in general, not just in religions.

 

[Arpy]

I forgive it in the case of the older aliens who’ve had a while to homogenize. For all we know the contemporary Bajoran faith bares NO resemblance to what it looked like when it became the only faith on the planet. 500,000 years is a long time.

The clone of Kahless seemed perturbed at how much Klingons had changed since his time.

Is logic a faith? The mystical aspects of their society maybe have numerous sub-sects. Who knows what the Debrune were like? The Mintakans seemed emotional if more reasoning.

It is a problem though. I remember the episode of Babylon 5. Nice touch.

 

[Tribble Threat]

I agree with Orphalesion. It's plausible that Bajoran grammar uses religion differently than English grammar. They might use a verb or verb phrase for it, ("I worship the prophets") or something less intuitive to us than that. I do say that an "ism" is plausible, but not necessary. I do think Bajorans it's odd for them not to have a name for the organization that governs their religion though, with the kai and vedeks and whoever else they have. That's something I can't quite get my head around.

As for alien diversity, I think everyone can agree more diversity than Star Trek has is better. I really like how Enterprise showed Vulcans with various beliefs.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Bajoozus. There I named it and it's canon now.