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Essay on Bajoran Religion
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Bajoran Religious Beliefs
by Mark Woodward
One of the most discussed subjects and asked questions on the various Bajoran-related groups regards their religion. It could be the fact that it is really the first time that Star Trek has dealt with such an overtly religious culture, the Federation seeming very secular and other races not having been developed to the same extent that Deep Space Nine has allowed the Bajoran race. Although it must first be said that, all to often, the few episodes that deal in depth with the Bajoran culture fall into the trap of portraying religious fundamentalists or characters so locked in their beliefs that they put themselves or others in trouble. However, that apart we do have some fascinating facts about the Bajoran culture and beliefs that are worth discussion.
Peculiarly Monoaesthetic
A rather amazing fact is just how unified and widespread the Bajoran faith is among the people, while some people are not shown to be that spiritually inclinded, nearly every Bajoran follows the same faith and is part of one unifed religious heirarchy. This could be due to the Occupation, but that alone does not serve well as a reason since that would be more likely to encourage all beliefs that take people away from the suffering and promise some form of redemption or retribution on their percecutors. Indeed there is no strong evidence to suggest that any other Bajoran faiths have ever existed, even before that dark period in their history. The most likely cause of this comes down to one of the fundamental keystones of their faith, their belief in the Orbs as the messangers of the Prophets. With such physical evidence to back up their theology so many thousand years ago it is not that surprising that other theological beliefs did not survive. If any of the religions of our culture had this level of hard evidence and an apparant permanent communication channel to God then it is likely that it would come to dominate the other religions here over time.
Evidence seem not only to show that this one-party state in terms of religion has not only existed for a very long time, but the actual structure and workings of it have gone very much unchanged in that time. The position of Kai and the Vedek Assembly, which will be discussing shortly, seem to extend back to antiquity and with the extreme age of the Bajoran culture this does mean a long time. The only way that this could occur would be due to the extreme stability given to the beliefs by the Orbs and from them the various prophesies. With these highly accurate, if occasionally obfuscate, predictions for the future there is little chance or need for a major schism to occur that would fracture the faith or create a new belief structurte from it. The conformitity of the Bajoran belief probably led to a planet-wide government much earlier than would be possible here where cultural and religious divides prevent the necessary level of co-operation and mutual loss of sovreignty. In fact it could be suggested that a sole religion would be the driving force towards a unified structure in non-religious domains. The suggestion that Bajor could be made up of mainly one large continental mass that comes from many of the descriptions of the various provinces, also makes this cohesivness a lot more likely.
Visions of the Orbs
s suggested just now, it is likely that the reason for the domination of a single faith on Bajor is the direct evidence presented by artifacts such as the Orbs. In the pilot episode we learnt that the wormhole aliens, that the Bajorans rever as the Prophets, sent out the Orbs to seek other lifeforms. Since they at the time were apparantly unaware of the existance of coporeal life, although this fact has been watered down later with the Prophets being more aware of Bajor than they first let on, it is rather interesting that they had such a dramtic effect on the Bajoran populace. The Orbs have attained such a position in fact, that their symbology is prevalent in Bajoran architecture and designs. The Bajoran emblem is a stylised Orb, and it could be argued that the designs of the earrings, fighter ships and some buildings all carry this motif in some form.
It has been quoted that the Orbs appeared to the Bajoran people over a period of 10,000 years and shaped their civilisation and beliefs. This would seem to indicate that this is about the length of time of what we would refer to as the modern Bajoran civilisation. It would be interesting to find out exactly what occured with the arrival of the first Orb to Bajor, since it would obviously be recognised as an item of great power and worth it depends on the nature of the society at that time as to if it could have sparked off conflict. Evidence seems to point to a steady build up of followers to the religion formed by the appearance of this Orb and the ones that followed. With each Orb having a particular gift, each would open up a new facet of development for the burgeoning civilisation and it is not hard to suppose that the advantage that the Orbs gave let their followers develop and so come to dominate and then replace other groupings.
The visions given by the Orbs are often inordinantly cryptic and it is uncertain if they come directly from the Prophets or the Orbs themselves. Whatever their source, they have led to a library of prophesy that has been shown to guide and protect the Bajorans at various stages of their history. It is also unclear if this is a deliberate attempt by the Prophets to guide and protect the populace, or simply by seeing what is going to happen the Bajoran people themselves can change their own destiny to avoid the pitfalls that beset most civilisations. For instance, it does not appear that the Bajoran populace has ever undergone a major internal war in modern times, which can be put down to the single faith, since conflicting religions is the cause of innumerate wars, and the foresight granted by the prophesies. In fact, it has only been major outside influences that have had any negative impact on the Bajoran civilisation, though you perhaps could argue that the Cardassian Occupation has had the solitary benefit of strengthing and further uniting the Bajorans in a new position in the galactic socio-political order.
The Psuedo-Political Assembly?
The supreme authority of the Bajoran faith is ultimately a group known as the Vedek Assembly, which we have been told is made up of 113 members. Whether this number has some spiritual significance is unknown, as is how someone achieves the status of Vedek. We do know that the Kai is chosen by some form of democratic process, though it is likely that only the Assembly carry votes unlike the parliamentary elections that we have also witnessed during the series. The Vedek Assembly appears to function very much like an upper house in western governments, such as the House of Lord in the United Kingdom, in that it has some undefined amount of political power. Vedeks have been seen attending inter-planetary conferences and being consulted on major policy agreements such as the Skreean settlement issue. This level of involvement harks back to the golden age of the Roman Catholic church were the Pope held great personal power over most of Europe, although it must be said in the Bajoran case, with perhaps the notable exception of Kai Winn, the people follow their lead through a true sense of respect and not fear of some form of punative action such as the excommunication of a city that could completely destroy its economy.
It is likely that this duality has existed for such a long time through good choices of the person becoming Kai, as there is massive potential for abuse in that position. While it is unknown what civilian government strucutre existed before the Occupation, the quick acceptance and formation of the provisional government following the withdrawal does suggest that it was a similar democraticallt elected secular system. While the government kept out of spiritiual affairs and the Assembly kept its interference in the basic running of the plantary infrastructure to a minimum, it is likely that this partnership would have been able to be sustained for such a period. It would be interesting to know if there were periods, which are likely, where strife between the groups led to the fall of one, most likely the government due to the more sacred and vaunted position that the Assembly holds. It is also a possibility that at some stage, or following one of these disagreements, that the Assembly carried out both tasks since although it would be difficult for an elected official to uphold a religion, try telling a religious leader that they do not have the necessary experience to run a country or indeed planet.
The Winn Factor
It is at this point that the esteemed Kai Winn deserves to be brought into the picture. Just previously it had been outlined that the dual-role of the Assembly and Government could be threatened by a powerful and ambitious Kai that desired temporal power on top of spiritual. It is likely that the Kais and Vedeks of the past realised that their position, although powerful, was at the approval of the population and dared not threaten the unswaying nature of their followers by grabs for power and glory. However, the current Kai seems to have other ideas in this regard and the skilful manipulations of the public and those around her, with of course the notable exception of our main characters, would no doubt earn the respect of the Italian strategist Niccolo Macchievelli. There is, as in all things, a flip side to this condemnation of Winn as a leader. Even with the figure of Shakaar now in place as the notional leader of the democratic government, we have not seen much evidence of strong political leadership in this time of intergalactic crusis. In this regard, Winn may be a necessary evil, giving Bajor a strong voice and a powerful personality behind it. Seeming to be very much the conservative leader, it is also quite likely that this is in responce to the encroachment of alien cultures and beliefs into the Bajoran world after such a long time of seclusion, firstly by choice and then through the Occupation.
When considering Winn, we must also take note of how Benjamin Sisko fits into the Bajoran belief system in his destined role as the Emissary. It is possibily quite fortunate, or perhaps fated so, that he exists at the same time as a powerful Kai so as to act as a counterbalance and help prevent Winn from gaining too much of a dominance, something it is noted that Winn cannot forgive Sisko for. In the brief period that Sisko and Opaka shared the religious stage, he was far more removed from the role that he found strange and uncomfortable, but as Winn has started to gain power so Sisko has come to terms with the position and how he can wield its influence.
The Emissary and His Message
Sisko in fact must walk a very fine line, as with the Kai he has the potential to hold a great sway over the Bajoran population. But, as an outsider and without the grounding in the religious tenets that the Vedeks have, he must be careful not to overplay his had for fear of both endangering the people's belief in his position and also their trust in non-Bajorans and more specifically the Federation. It is in this way that his Starfleet superiors have expressed discomfort with this role, knowing that Sisko is crucial to their relationship with the Bajorans and has the power to both make or break that friendship. A prime example of this is Sisko's actions in "Rapture" where for the first time becoming engrossed with the Bajoran idea of prophesy he told the government not to join the Federation and so effectively destroyed months if not years of negotiations, however although his superiors were no doubt furious, the Bajoran confidence in prophesy and the grand picture for the future means that this action in no way weakened their trust in the Emissary even though this represented a major turnaround and also a short-term sacrifice for the planet.
Cerimony or Lack Thereof?
The Bajoran faith has certainly existed long enough to collect a whole host of elaborate and archaic cerimonial activities and systems. In the series, we have seen a few such as a form of the wedding cerimony and the Gratitude Festival, however these all have seemed rather minimalist. Even the few services in the DS9 temple that we have seen parts of are elegant in their simplicity. This may well be due to the Occupation, a time when religious practices were virtually outlawed, which no doubt led to simplification of the rituals in order that they could be carried out with the least requirements and possibility of discovery. Whether cerimonies before this time were far more elaborate is unknown, but with evidence such as the cast system, status-bearing earrings and intricate details in the few relics we have seen, it is likely that a lot of resources and inspiration centred around the religious side of the Bajoran life.
It could be summised from this that the Bajorans have a sort of religious aethestic, not going in for the gaudy decoration of the ancient Roman Catholic church but more resembling the Eastern Faiths with their simplicity, but on closer inspection delicate intricacy. The clothing of the religious figures would seem to support this analogy, resembling to a degree the saffron robes of the Buddhist monks. The elaboracy of their clothing also does seem to show status in the church, the Kai having a luxurient gold outfit while the lowly monks at the bottom end usually wear heavy robes of earthy colours.
Conclusions
In ending we can summerise that the Bajoran faith is an unusual and interesting portrayal of a religious system. With similarities to known faiths, which act to give it grounding and a recognisability to the audience, it has a number of unique features that make it stand out. It is a shame that a good portion of the time, the religion is simply used as a method of separating a Bajoran character from others or providing a reason for some form of terrorist or subversive activity.
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