Non-religious Bajorans?

[The Rock]

Do you think there were ever any non-religious Bajorans?

I mean, there must've been some that thought the idea of worshipping aliens was a bit silly. And what's more, there must've been some who were angry at the wormhole aliens for not helping them during the Cardassian occupation of Bajor (yes I know they try to stay out of mortal affairs, but you know how people in our world blame God for allowing something bad to happen and then become atheists because of it? Kinda like that).

 

[Kilana2]

Well, there is Ro Laren. According to the novels she is agnostic. She used to wear the earring on the other side.

There might as well be other Bajorans less religious than the most part.

There were also different kinds of sects.

 

[Tosk]

And potentially any of the Bajorans who didn't specify if they were religious or not. No need to assume one way or the other.

 

[CommanderRaytas]

It would've been interesting to see atheist Bajorans navigate such a pious society. Almost everything is built around worshipping those aliens. It would've made for interesting conflict for an individual to openly defy the planet's hat.

 

[kkt]

Non-religious Bajorans, like Kai Winn?

 

[Kilana2]

Non-religious Bajorans, like Kai Winn?

I wouldn't call her non-religious. I would call her sanctimonious.

 

[at Quark's]

... I think the Bajoran Dawkins meeting with the proph... I mean, wormhole aliens, could have made for a very interesting episode ...

 

[The Rock]

Well, there is Ro Laren. According to the novels she is agnostic. She used to wear the earring on the other side.

There might as well be other Bajorans less religious than the most part.

There were also different kinds of sects.

Yeah, I always suspected Ro wasn't really religious.

 

[Nakita Akita]

There were the people that worshipped the Pah-Wraiths.
Sort of like Satanist would be here.
Plus were mainly seeing stuff revolving around Sisko who is the Emissary and Kira who is very faithful.
Probably just like anyplace there would be
People that run the gammot from very faithful to non-believers.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

It's probably kind of like it was in the US a few decades ago, where even people who weren't religious had to go through the motions of being religious because it was just assumed everyone was, and not being so had the consequence of being socially an outcast.

@Nakita Akita

Technically it's not like being a Satanists here, because people who call themselves Satanists are using Satan as a metaphor for intellectual rebellion rather than worshipping the literal Satan.

 

[DonIago]

Well, the novels introduce the Ohalavaru, who believe in the existence of the Prophets but also consider them to be aliens, not gods.

Spoiler

Things get interesting when it's discovered that a Bajoran moon is artificial and might have been used to construct the wormhole.

 

[Nakita Akita]

It's probably kind of like it was in the US a few decades ago, where even people who weren't religious had to go through the motions of being religious because it was just assumed everyone was, and not being so had the consequence of being socially an outcast.

@Nakita Akita

Technically it's not like being a Satanists here, because people who call themselves Satanists are using Satan as a metaphor for intellectual rebellion rather than worshipping the literal Satan.

Some satanists may be are not worshipping the actual Satan. Others do.
I've only ever met a couple of people that stated they were satanists.
They stated that they worshipped Satan.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Some satanists may be are not worshipping the actual Satan. Others do.
I've only ever met a couple of people that stated they were satanists.
They stated that they worshipped Satan.

The majority of the people who say they do though are worshipping an interpretation of the biblical Satan as not the version Christians think of but an intellectual rebel who tried to give humans knowledge rather than letting them live in shepherded blissful ignorance.

I’m not sure how much detail the people you spoke to went into but if they truly are the Rosemary’s Baby version of Satanists they are the minority.

 

[Nakita Akita]

The majority of the people who say they do though are worshipping an interpretation of the biblical Satan as not the version Christians think of but an intellectual rebel who tried to give humans knowledge rather than letting them live in shepherded blissful ignorance.

I’m not sure how much detail the people you spoke to went into but if they truly are the Rosemary’s Baby version of Satanists they are the minority.

Probably there are people that worship in all different ways. The people I knew said that their biggest holiday was Haloween.
I used to be Wiccan if you want to find a bunch of people who never agreed on anything.

I felt during the show that we only saw what they showed us about the Bajoran religion.
I always figured with the differing clothes of the Vedek's that there were various sects.

 

[DonIago]

Well we know that's the case because Winn and Bareil had differing interpretations of the Bajoran faith, with Winn being more...er...orthodoxical.

 

[Finn]

I don't think the Bajorans are a pious race, compared to some we've seen on Trek, or the Kai or the Vedeks wouldn't have been meeting with Kira.

 

[DonIago]

Howso?

 

[Nakita Akita]

I don't think the Bajorans are a pious race, compared to some we've seen on Trek, or the Kai or the Vedeks wouldn't have been meeting with Kira.

They didn't all meet with her.
For all we know there were thousands of Vedek's that took vows of silence or celibacy, vegitarianism, etc.
we only got to see a tiny fraction of the people in the planet unfortunately.
I wish they would have forgone the silly and bad episodes and focused on the recovery of the Bajoran planet. We certainly would have seen a lot more of their religion that way.

 

[Kilana2]

We generally should have seen more of Bajor itself instead of mere discussions about planetary affairs.

 

[at Quark's]

It's true, I think we actually no idea have if 95% of Bajor venerates the Prophets or only a very active 10% minority (that would come up with their supporters to the station to see the "Emissary" and such) vs. a majority that couldn't care less as long as they can carry on with their ordinary life. If the latter were to be the case, even some quotes by Vedeks about how the faith has always supported "the Bajoran peoples" during times of crisis need not necessarily be more objectively true than any similar quote from, say, a catholic bishop about the role of the church in contemporary secular society, exaggerating its role.

Though perhaps there has been some offhand quote from a 'neutral' person I forgot about ...