A-Plot: Earth-Firsters (the "Home Guard") are trying to rid humanity of alien influences, and B5 is one of their battlefields. A Minbari poet (and friend of Delenn) is attacked, as are some Centauri (see B-Plot). This gives all of our lead human cast to be very PC and anti-xenophobe, which is nice but way too simple a way to paint white and black hats.
It would have been nice to see some conflicts here — "Hey, beating up on aliens is obviously wrong, but doesn't it seem to you that alien influence on Earth politics and B5 administration is really kind of a problem?" Instead, we get naked, ugly racism against fervent protectors of sentient rights. Ho-hum.
This is all mingled with a C-Plot of Ivanova meeting up with an old flame of hers, whom she left behind in her desire to pursue her career and duty. Again, a nice opportunity to explore more about the character, which gets squandered on cheap drama.
B-Plot: Two Centauri young'uns are fleeing their parents in order to get hitched, arranged marriages be damned. Londo starts off being all "Hey, if I got trapped into loveless marriages in pursuit of political stability, you have to be trapped, too," and then gets shamed into figuring out a way to have the young'uns live happily ever after.
It's nice character-building for Londo — and Vir — but it's mostly played as a bald-faced morality play, like the A-Plot, where the sympathies of the audience are obviously meant to run in a specific direction.
All of this is one amidst mostly clumsy direction, odd use of spaces (scenes in the MedLab in particular feel much more staged than cinema), and a flat presentation that takes cliched plots and turns them into something even less convincing.
Also … what does this have to do with Twain's story of the same name? (http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/making/warprayer.html)
Most Dramatic Moment: Londo gives his "My shoes are too tight, but it's okay because I've forgotten how to dance" speech, which is no less railroaded than the rest of the episode's plot, but is at least poetic.
Most Amusing Moment: There are a few scenes meant to be amusing, but all of them come across a bit flat. "Okay, I'll chuckle here" kind of stuff.
Most Arc-ish Moment: Sinclair notes (for not many good reasons) to Ivanova that the folks who learned the most about Kosh in the pilot episode — Doctor Kyle and telepath Lyta Alexander — both got transferred off the station with a few weeks. [Note: this was originally filmed for a different episode, but added in here because of the episode running short.]
Overall Rating: 2 of 5 – It's not so much a bad ep, as it is simply not good. All of the points advance themes about Earth and B5 and xenophobia and the Centauri and duty-over-happiness … but do so in a really annoyingly dull and predictable fashion.
Midwinter Guide : http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/guide/007.html
Babylon Project: http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/The_War_Prayer
Guide page: “The War Prayer”
A violent attack on a Minbari poet rocks B5 and leaves Sinclair scrambling to flush out a vicious pro-Earth group. Two star-crossed young Centauri lovers seek Londo’s protection. Ivanova is shaken when a man from her past arrives at the outpost. Nancy Lee Grahn as Shaal Mayan.