OK...here's my review of "In the Hands of the Prophets."
Please, NO flaming. This episode deals with material some may find controversial and that others see as a matter of their deepest personal beliefs. DON'T repeat the mistakes of the characters in this episode, on either side.
First I have a little music for you, to set the mood for my response:
"The Words of God," by Cat Faber, one of the few things I've ever found that captures my own take on the matter of science "versus" religion. (Though there is a factual error in the song in that it is questioned whether Galileo was actually tortured, or just put under severe political pressure. The house arrest and recanting, of course, no one disputes.)
Here are my thoughts now, in order as they came while I watched the episode.
First, Keiko was very mean to O'Brien, with the "watch where you keep your jumja stick." As it turned out, Neela was evil and the warning got O'Brien to check behind Neela's back...but still, it just seemed mean-spirited.
But the one real problem I have with this episode is that until the end, we get very few hints that there is any other way of framing this conflict except as science
versus religion. Both Winn AND Keiko are in a sense extremists in their views. True, Keiko would never commit violence, but there are SO many solutions that were missed, that could have been put into place, without either party having to dig in their heels. Of course, Winn was going to find a way to dig her heels in no matter what, but had she handled it right, I think Keiko could have knocked Winn's credibility right out from under her.
Here's how I would've handled it. Rather than acting as though there was a contradiction between Bajoran beliefs and science, I would have said that explainability of ANY phenomenon from a scientific perspective does not preclude creation or purpose...it simply lets us see how it was done, and from there, those who believe can appreciate those works from the perspective of their faith. Understanding the physical means of creation takes nothing from the spiritual. What Keiko did instead was act as though ALL interpretations must be fundamentalist.
Now, I think that Winn's terrorist acts would not have changed--and Neela was set in what she was going to do. But I think the effect this would've had on the reasonable Bajorans would've been to leave Winn with a lot less credibility, because Kira is right that science with a
refusal to admit spirituality is a philosophy in itself...and this is right because to claim science can speak on non-falsifiable things (which pure science cannot) takes it beyond its purview.
At the beginning of the episode, Sisko wasn't doing too well, either--he sounded as though bringing Bajor into the Federation means changing their religious belief, and ridding them of the influence of the more orthodox sects. "Common ground to bring Bajor into the Federation" is something that suggests that yes, the secular philosophy IS Federation-wide, even though it is centered on humanity and Vulcan. Also, a view has arisen among some Bajorans that the Federation is "godless"...this
may be substantiated, though of course we have to be careful considering that Winn may have been the source of some of those rumors.
Back to Winn for a moment. Opaka's comment that "one must never look into the eyes of one's own gods" was VERY telling about Winn, as was what Winn added, that she would do ANYTHING to do so. Anyone who thinks that what Winn did with Dukat and the Pah-Wraiths later on was out of character need only look back to this. Great foreshadowing of what she did with the Pah-Wraiths and why she was susceptible to Dukat. She really was MADE for him. She's the kind of person who makes "I'll pray for you" an insult. (Though in her case it was usually "The Prophets forgive you.")
Now, back to Keiko. She didn't help matters with the clear "up yours" she sent with the Galileo lesson--or at least, if she taught that without any examples of a different kind of relationship, which I get the impression she did. Why not a lesson about
Theodosius Dobzhansky or some of the Muslim astronomers, in addition to the lesson about Galileo?
There are MANY solutions that could have been worked out to the actual problem. One question I would ask is if the on-station temple does anything equivalent to Sunday school. Reaching out to these teachers would be useful, and a number of things could be done, all on a parental opt-in basis (meaning that parents would have absolute control over whether or not their children attend any of the proposed events). One would be for an after-school/Sunday-school type program to simply address the Celestial Temple during the same general time frame it's addressed in school. Obviously Bajoran parents that want their children to attend temple school would be in total control over that.
Of course, the concern here is that you have no bridge-building going on. Another option would be a class field trip to the temple on-station...TOTALLY opt-in, no impact on grades. Any Federation or Bajoran parent who does not want to sign the permission slip will have the option to do so, so that parents have total choice as to what their children are exposed to.
What I would
not concede--and where I think Keiko was right--was any notion that nothing should be taught. And even if I did NONE of the above measures, I might start the lecture by saying that children should ask their parents about the subject of the wormhole and find out what they think. Again, that shifts the emphasis to the parents, and I think is a wise middle ground so that parents do not have to feel that they have no control over their kids' education. But if Keiko is confident in her position, then inviting parental involvement should be no threat to her whatsoever.
Now when Sisko sat down and talked with Jake later, he's doing EXACTLY what I think is a good idea (and I think that throughout the series he can be applauded as an example of what an involved and capable single father is--something you rarely ever see on TV). Obviously Commander Sisko has his particular set of values and beliefs that he wants to raise his son with. What's good is that in the process of doing so, Sisko is right to point out the hypocrisy of looking down on believers, and doesn't let his son get away with calling them stupid. If more people could learn from that example, I think the world would be a much happier place.
Bareil is someone else who, for the most part, comes off very nicely. He's a much more transparent person, compared to Winn, in interests and dress, and also not as fixed on ritual. His one failing, to my mind, is that he's still a bit too political--but he seemed rather chastised when the violence got out of hand and though he didn't admit it in so many words, I think he realized that his failure to stand up sooner may have done damage. And in a lot of ways, this is the exact situation that religious moderates in the real world run into--going against fundamentalists can be a politically "dangerous" maneuver because you're seen as "allying with the godless"...but it's like what I said with Keiko: if you're confident in your position, then in my personal opinion it shouldn't matter how anyone tries to paint you--truth is truth.
When Bareil starts to speak at the end, we only get a snippet, but he does hint at a Bajor that was once NOT so fundamentalist--the line I heard very clearly was that he referred to Bajor as a center of learning where people would come from many worlds to study with them. (In a lot of ways what I've done with my AU Cardassia is similar.) In some ways I think the fundamentalism got popular in the tumultuous climate during and after the Occupation, just as Wahhabi Islam has, or fundamentalist Christianity...and this is yet another example of DS9 being WAY ahead of its time in recognizing these issues.
The interesting one at the very end is Kira, when she sees Neela being taken away, sees Winn for what she is, and has to see exactly what fundamentalism does to people...and learns that what it means to be a good and faithful servant does NOT mean having to be the most fundamentalist that you can be--especially once she sees what that can turn you into. And the respect Sisko shows in the end for her beliefs is very inspiring.
And it's very fitting that the first season ends that way--given the very nasty introduction Sisko and Kira had, to have them admit openly that there really has been progress in their relationship is a huge moment. Most TNG seasons, before then, had ended on a cliffhanger, and it's interesting that this season doesn't end that way. It feels more like the end of a chapter, a nice breather where you can put the book down for a bit and think about what you've seen.
The one clunker in this episode was the way the whole "NOOOOOO!" moment was shot...it was a little OVERLY dramatic. However, for once the music stood out--and while it certainly wasn't Bear McCreary quality, there
was something almost "Passacaglia"-like when it first started!
Overall, the entire first season was not the bomb some people make it out to be. There were some episodes of lesser quality, and certain actors hadn't quite found their groove yet (Siddig being the most obvious example), but this is VERY high quality compared to the first season of the other series.
Now on to a few interesting tidbits...
There was the suspicion from before that Bajor had the death penalty, but until this episode we couldn't be sure whether it was just because Marritza couldn't imagine anything else (since Cardassia definitely has it), but Neela's line confirms that Bajoran law is very clear on this matter.
On set decoration--inside the Bajoran temple, we got a couple of nice shots of the figures represented in the temple itself. I found myself wondering who those statues represented...
One final note that I saw in Odo's mannerisms here--I just noticed that he almost has the same mannerisms as a Cardassian, when you look at how he bows his head to acknowledge something! The mannerism isn't quite like Garak's or Glinn Daro's, but the similarity is there. Definitely shows where he came from...
. 
