Your opine: Did Kai Winn go to Bajoran Hell?

Well, yes, this isn't a conventional religious question since the prophets and the pah wraiths have been observed and verified and have apparently a very proactive involvement in bajoran history. It depends how hardwired the bajorans are to these "wormhole aliens". Certainly if you go by the Vulcans, the katra can survive death. It seems to me, going from that, it isn't that big a leap that the bajoran "pagh" eventually hangs out with either the prophets or the pah wraiths once the bajorans end their corporeal existence.

 

The nature of religion, especially with regards to the soul and afterlife, is such that it cannot be verified by science. For tens of thousands of years, humans have believed in the existence of god(s), humans have believed in the existence of a heaven and hell (cf: Dante) or afterlife.
The concept of atheism is relatively recent.
That said, a lot of the Bajoran religion has similarities to eastern religions, theres a lot more of "moral/ethical behavior" but less in the way of "laws" i.e. "thou shalt be a good person" rather than "thou shalt not steal" and "thou shalt not eat the meat of a bajoran toad" etc.

 

The nature of specific religious beliefs is that, quite deliberately. But that's not what the original claim was about. It described the nature of religion, which is quite clear-cut and not even particularly open to debate.

I doubt religion would have much input on the issue of gods or afterlife in the Trek universe - both concepts (religion and tenets) clearly exist, but independently of each other, and both can be empirically assessed. Especially since even belief itself can be studied inside the head of the believer, through telepathy and like concepts that abound in Trek. What is clearly shown is that gods need not be created by man in the Trek universe, although some in fact require belief in order to survive or grow. But little or nothing is empirically established about afterlife. Seances reach to lost souls, empirically verified phenomena - but never those of the deceased. Souls of the biologically deceased may be preserved in exceptional circumstances, but not in the religiously typical fashion (all souls of a group or species of believers in all circumstances, or perhaps when certain criteria of good life are met); OTOH, species that do more or less categorically preserve souls (Vulcans) place little or no mythical or spiritual value on the act, and there's no element of supernaturality to it.

It's actually rather bizarre that there aren't holy wars over the usual "my god/system is better than yours" issues in a universe where gods not just exist, but also care and intervene... Perhaps the gods of Trek have no truck with such things?

Does the Bajoran religion give moral guidelines at all, really? There are ceremonies, which tend to touch upon the individual rather than the community let alone a weekly crowd, and then there's the monastery system, but we don't really hear much even about "a good life" or "a proper mindset" in either context.

Timo Saloniemi

 

It seems Dukat's final destination would resemble some of our notions of hell, but he may well be an exceptional case as 'emissary' of the pah-Wraiths. As to Winn, I have no idea where she'd end up (we know (almost) nothing about such matters in Bajoran theology).

 

Bajoran religion seems very focused on laws. Remember the d'jaras. Just the Occupation nuked the practice of most of those laws.

Is the concept of atheism really that recent? Lots of people in history didn't believe in God or Gods. Just it was a bit more dangerous to say so until recently.

 

I would say No.

Elevation to the status of pah-wraiths or Prophets seems to require some kind of action on the part of the aliens themselves. Dukat was revived by the pah-wraiths, Sisko was "created" by the interaction of a Prophet in human form, but Kai Winn was just dissolved into nothing.

 

Ah, very good point! Strange that the monks or Vedeks would be among the easygoing happy-to-be-rid-of-d'jarras people, never even mentioning the concept until a secular preacher (a poet by profession) got his chance to promote his strict interpretation of the practice... One would have expected them to have cherished the concept behind the walls of the monasteries all the way through the occupation, bringing it back to the masses the very moment the occupation lifted.

Yet even the d'jarras seemed rather secular in nature. Not "this is what is Right and this is what is Wrong for all Bajorans for all eternity, just because" but "this is your place in life, while this is yours, and that's how we run an efficient society; within those places, do as secular laws tell you or the police will get you, or then be a criminal for all we care".

Timo Saloniemi

 

...question is - what's Bajoran hell look like?

ah....probably Cardassia.

 

My views are along these lines, though I'd quibble about the "elevation" and say it is just allowing someone to exist within their realm. Winn was vaporised or whatever by those fire wisps and that was her end. I don't think Bajoran souls are funnelled one way or another and that when they die they simply die. Why would either the Prophets or the Pah-wraiths want Bajoran "souls" anyway? The only value mortals have to them is in how they can manipulate and use them to further their own goals in normal reality.

 

It would be a pretty poor excuse for Bajoran hell if it didn't have Winn in it!

 

Whether there is no afterlife or her destination is a Bajoran version of hell, it's a winn-winn situation either way.

 

Winn's ambition wasted her life, left her in ruin, hastened her end, and very nearly destroyed her whole species and home planet on multiple occasions. It was already hell.

 

I am very ashamed I didn't get to that pun first.