In the Hands of the Prophets

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Star Trek: DS9 episode
"In the Hands of the Prophets"
Vedek Winn comforts a Bajoran officer
Episode no.	20
Prod. code	420
Airdate	June 20, 1993
Writer(s)	Robert Hewitt Wolfe
Director	David Livingston
Guest star(s)	Louise Fletcher as Winn Adami Philip Anglim as Vedek Bareil Rosalind Chao as Keiko Robin Christopher as Neela Michael Eugene Fairman as Vendor
Year	2369
Episode chronology
Previous	"Duet"
Next	"The Homecoming"

"In the Hands of the Prophets" is the last episode of the first season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Quick Overview: Friction escalates when Vedek Winn arrives on DS9 and discovers Keiko O'Brien is teaching that the Bajoran Prophets are aliens.

[edit] Plot

Keiko O'Brien operates a school on Deep Space Nine for the station's children, most of whom are Bajoran. She is accused of blasphemy by Vedek Winn, one of the spiritual leaders of Bajor, as she explains the scientific background of the Bajoran wormhole. Winn feels that, as the Bajoran civilization sees in it a religious symbol (the "Temple of the Prophets"), the Bajoran children should be taught this theory in preference to Starfleet physics and astrobiology. After a bomb is detonated in the school, Commander Sisko is forced to seek help from Vedek Bareil, a Bajoran spiritual leader who has a different ideology than Winn.

The episode is significant in that it lays the groundwork for the tension on Bajor that would be more fully realized in Deep Space Nine's second season. However, it also begins to bring Sisko and Major Kira closer together, as they realize that they both have Bajor's best interests at heart.

This episode explores the creationism vs. evolution controversy, with "evolution" represented by the United Federation of Planets' scientific explanation of the wormhole phenomenon and "creationism" represented by the Bajoran spiritual belief that the wormhole is the "Temple of the Prophets". The spiritual vs. scientific argument of the wormhole's nature is largely irrelevant anyway, as Winn is primarily using the conflict to create tension between Bajor and the Federation in the hopes of gaining political power.