Bajoran religion The Bajoran religion was centered around the Prophet s , the Bajoran name for the alien s residing inside the Bajoran wormhole , which the Bajorans believed was the Celestial Temple . Bajorans thought of these aliens as god s and often prayed to them for guidance . ( ) They also believed that everything happened for a reason and that starship s were guided by the hands of the Prophets while passing through the Bajoran wormhole . ( ) The word of the Prophets guided Bajor for tens of thousands of year s , and over the years , ten orb s , or " tears of the Prophets " , had emerged from the wormhole . ( ) The spiritual leader of Bajor was called the Kai . ( ) Commander Benjamin Sisko was the first man to fly through the newly - opened wormhole . While flying through , he encountered the wormhole aliens which the Bajorans believed to be the Prophets . They spoke to him in enigmatic ways that seemed strangely wise and even prophetic . When the Bajorans learned about Sisko ' s experience , they identified him with their religion ' s . ( ) For a long time , Sisko remained skeptical of who the aliens were . ( ) The Prophets continued to talk to Sisko and guided him through the Dominion War . They were able to reach him even when he was outside of the wormhole . ( ) Eventually , Sisko learned that his mother was a Prophet . Sisko later joined the Prophets in the Celestial Temple after defeating Dukat in Bajor ' s Fire Caves . ( ) In 2369 , Vedek Winn Adami accused Keiko O ' Brien of blasphemy because of her scientific way of teaching knowledge to her student s at her school aboard the space station Deep Space 9 . ( ) Deep Space 9 also had a place in the Bajoran religion as the " gateway " to the Celestial Temple . ( ) Charity , humility , and faith were seen as the keys to enlightenment in the Bajoran faith . ( ) The Bajoran wormhole was unknown in the mirror universe and the Orbs were never sent to Bajor , so there was no worship of the Prophets . The Bajorans of the Mirror Universe did believe in a pantheon of gods and had some form of an organized religion , but the faith was not central to their daily lives . ( ) Organization . Over the centuries , a stratified system had developed by which the Bajoran faith was organized . ( ) Although the took precedence above all others , the Kai was the spiritual leader of Bajor , elected from and by the vedek s in the Vedek Assembly . ( ) The Assembly ruled alongside the Chamber of Ministers in the Bajoran Republic . ( ) Background information . Michael Piller was happy with how Bajoran religion was established on . " " I think that the idea of the Prophets , the prophecies and the Orbs takes " Star Trek " into the metaphysical world for the first time , " " he commented . " " I think this is something that Gene [ Roddenberry ] would have loved , had he lived to see it [ . . . ] We had a very , very good time exploring that , and I think that we were one of the very few television shows that ventured into spiritual , religious areas . But of course , as long as time has existed , stories about spiritual pursuits , Bible stories , have been great storytelling . And it gave us great themes to explore . " " ( Hidden File 10 , DS9 Season 2 DVD special features ) Even though the Bajoran religion was a contrast to Roddenberry ' s beliefs ( as he was an atheistic , secular humanist ) , Piller not only expected Roddenberry wouldn ' t be opposed to the invention of Bajoran religion , he also noted , " " He ' s still with us [ mentally ] [ . . . ] as we think about these conceptual issues . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 23 , No . 6 , p . 20 ) Ira Steven Behr appreciated how Bajoran religion was depicted as unusual , compared to the majority of the Federation , in DS9 Season 1 installment . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 24 , Nos . 3 / 4 , p . 102 ) Bajoran spirituality was further explored in first season finale . " " I think it enables us , as a specific television series , to explore the Bajoran spiritual life , which we haven ' t done too much of , " " opined Behr . Regarding how Bajoran religion was developed in " In the Hands of the Prophets " , Michael Piller said , " " You start to deal with religion in school , school prayer , the Scopes Monkey Trial , and fundamentalism , and it ' s very thought provoking . " " Behr expected the Bajoran religion could be written as clashing with the scientific Federation outlook in subsequent episodes " for quite some time . " ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 56 ) Indeed , the DS9 writing staff intended to explore the religious aspect of Bajoran culture more in the show ' s second season . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 24 , Nos . 3 / 4 , p . 108 ) The intellectual and philosophical subject matters in Bajoran religion were generally not embraced by viewers of DS9 . ( " " , p . 158 ) Writing about Bajoran religious issues was therefore a struggle , as Ronald D . Moore explained ; " " Anything having to do with Bajoran religion is always kind of difficult to make interesting and exciting for the audience . " " ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 115 ) A DS9 episode which deals with Bajoran religion was Season 3 ' s . René Echevarria commented , " " It ' s really interesting regarding the Bajoran religion [ . . . ] [ and Kira ' s ] beliefs . " " ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 92 ) The producers again explored Bajoran religious and spiritual issues in , an installment of DS9 Season 4 . " " Every once in a while we ' ve got to revisit that Bajoran religion and make sure that everyone knows that we still care . This was our episode for that purpose , " " recalled Robert Hewitt Wolfe . ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 116 ) Ira Steven Behr noted , " " Because of the Bajoran religion , it was a heady show . " " ( " " , p . 320 ) The staff writers were able to write " Accession " because they ignored Paramount having advised them that such issues were not what the DS9 audience wanted to see episodes about , though the creative team received no complaints about the installment . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 28 , No . 4 / 5 , p . 55 ) Still , writing the Bajoran religious and spiritual matters into the episode was considerably difficult . ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 115 ) By midway through the fourth season , Kira actress Nana Visitor was aware of the Bajoran religion undergoing upheaval . " " There ' s no question that there ' s some sort of corruption in the Bajoran religion right now , " " she said . " " It ' s a big political mess , which makes sense considering that Bajor is still coming out of having been under the Occupation . " " ( ) When was in early development , a Bajoran religious holiday was to have been established , celebrated with a party . This idea later became a birthday party , however . ( " " , p . 389 ) Much to the surprise of Ira Steven Behr , Bajoran religious aspects of DS9 Season 5 outing proved popular with fans . " " They really seemed to take to this , to the spirituality , the faith , " " Behr related . " " There ' s such a lack of faith in today ' s society . We ' re all so desperate to find something to believe in . This is the episode that made me realize just what we had created , in terms of the Bajoran faith and the Emissary . I knew that it was going to become a more and more important part of the show , and that a part of the audience was going to love it . " " ( " " , p . 405 ) By having a member of the Cult of the Pah - wraiths stab Sisko in , the DS9 writing staff intended to say something about Bajoran religion in general . Explained Ira Behr , " " We wanted to show that , like war , religion can be a dangerous thing . We ' d spent six years portraying the Bajoran religion , celebrating it , in a way , and establishing that there is something greater than technology . And that ' s good . But [ faith ] can be subverted very easily . " " ( " " , p . 597 ) Winn actress Louise Fletcher agreed , " " The definition of their religion was handed down by mortals to the Bajorans [ . . . ] In the hands of a ruthless leader , the will or the words of the Prophets can be perverted or twisted . The people don ' t have a bible . There ' s no written word ; everything is very hi - tech . " " ( )