Good point. Then again, the clergymen we saw tended to be ruthless players of realpolitik; it's not the general congregation of the faithful that would be the cause of worry, but all the politically active Prophet followers for whom the issue of Sisko vs. Akorem would be of great personal and professional importance.
The Prophets commune with the Bajorans, but not in clear and unambiguous words. Thus the clergy holds the same sort of interpretative power as the clergies of those religions where the gods stay completely mum. And Akorem's quest for Emissary status was all about interpretations and the power those hold over the population. True, it would be a powerful thing for Akorem to go missing in a Prophetic context, inside the Celestial Temple - a sign that this was as the Prophets wanted. But if the political opposition could contest the very fact that Akorem really was taken by the Prophets, then Sisko's side of the game would collapse rather totally... Not only would he be a fraud, he'd also be the man who tried to hide his fraudulence by defying the Prophets' will in Their own keep.
In this respect, it's curious that somebody like Winn didn't take advantage of Sisko's precarious position.
Timo Saloniemi
The Prophets commune with the Bajorans, but not in clear and unambiguous words. Thus the clergy holds the same sort of interpretative power as the clergies of those religions where the gods stay completely mum. And Akorem's quest for Emissary status was all about interpretations and the power those hold over the population. True, it would be a powerful thing for Akorem to go missing in a Prophetic context, inside the Celestial Temple - a sign that this was as the Prophets wanted. But if the political opposition could contest the very fact that Akorem really was taken by the Prophets, then Sisko's side of the game would collapse rather totally... Not only would he be a fraud, he'd also be the man who tried to hide his fraudulence by defying the Prophets' will in Their own keep.
In this respect, it's curious that somebody like Winn didn't take advantage of Sisko's precarious position.
Timo Saloniemi
