You seem to have made up your mind. It would be pointless to point out the positive portrayal of real earth religions later in the series.
I mean I don't like the writing style of the show. Thats unlikely to change. But if it has a positive spin on human religeons (in later seasons) I will mention that if I ever need to bring it up.
I did not like how in some cultural festival, Sinclair just arranges all these different human priests in a line and they all agreed to just stand there awkwardly until asked for maximum diversity points. Its not a negative portrayal, I just found it hoakey. I do not get the sense that the writers of the show understand sprirituality, like the writers of DS9 tried to do.
The CAPS LOCK really sells your argument.
I agree. My complaint is that other alien races would be just as likely to have a diverse range of religous beliefs, and so that scene did come across as hokey to me.
They get much better later in the series. Many of the main characters are shown practicing their faith without turning it into a parade. And a group of Roman Catholics set up residence on B5, trading their secular services for room and board, and featuring in a few episodes.
Its a writing tick of mine. Apologies.
No prob.
I didn't like B5 when it first came out. My friends were all talking up the show, and I didn't want to invest my attention on another potentially doomed sci-fi series. And I had issues with some of the content in the show, like you did.
Years later, I caught some seasons 5 episodes, got hooked, and re-watched the entire show. It's got it's flaws, and I don't agree with every writing decision, but I wound up really liking it because it had a different voice than any other sci-fi show up until that point. And the Big Story was refreshing after Star Trek's mostly episodic format.
It just feels to me like dumping on DS9 or TNG just based on their first seasons, a person could have much the same kind of arguments.