YMMV / Star Trek: Deep Space Nine S01E20 "In the Hands of the Prophets"

• Anvilicious: The episode is very clearly addressing the hot-button issue (in the USA) of religion in schools. When listing topics that will contradict Bajoran scripture, Keiko's first example is evolution, which was the focal point of the controversy. The fact that the secular Keiko is portrayed as heroic and the religious opposition are portrayed as lying murderers makes it clear which side we're supposed to agree with. Sisko's lecture to Jake is also a pretty on-the-nose lesson about respecting religious beliefs even if we don't agree with them or want to teach them in class.
• Broken Aesop:
  • This episode is an Allegory for how creationists try to prevent the teaching of evolution in schools, with the episode coming down firmly on the side of teaching scientific fact despite religious objections. Except the series has established that the Bajoran religion is scientific fact: the Bajoran Prophets and their powers have been empirically proven to be real. So Winn isn't disputing the actual science being taught in Keiko's classroom; their only objections is over the terminology used, with Keiko refusing to use the word "Prophets", instead referring to them as "entities".
  • Keiko also is teaching about the "Wormhole Aliens" despite the fact that Starfleet knows almost nothing about them. It's a provocative subject, yes, but one that the Federation has almost zero information on save through Sisko—who is the person telling Keiko to knock it off. It seems clear she's making a political stance based on her own desire to attack Bajoran religious interpretations of the Prophets, something that teachers are often accused of by the Religious Right in propaganda.
• Narm: Sisko shouting a Big "NO!" while flying through the air in slow motion would be played exactly the same today in a parody sketch.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: As the conflict escalates, Sisko tries to get Jake (and presumably the audience) to sympathise with the Bajorans by pointing out that they have been free to practice their religion for only about a year. However, Keiko's science classes do not in any way infringe on the Bajorans' religious freedom — Sisko had previously pointed out that students could simply receive religious education separate from the secular education that Keiko provides (which is the compromise widely used in the real world). Plus there's the blatant hypocrisy of having victims of religious oppression turn around and try to censor ideas that conflict with their religion. As such, it can be difficult to see the opposition to Keiko's school as anything more than rabid anti-intellectualism.