As someone who spent the first decade of his career writing for television aLMOST exclusively about the X-Files I feel compelled to comment.

First of all, everything about your article in regard to both your show and the episode is spot on. Much of the series - which was written during the height of 90s paranoia and institutional cynicsm - delivered these messages, often under the subtlety of monsters and aliens. When the series tried to be more direct about - and sadly, there are way too many example of this - it was a mess. Most of these examples had to do with religion and they are by far the weakest of the series.

You are also right about Signs and Wonders being a truly mediocre episode, which frankly is putting it mildly. It came in the seventh season when no one either fans or the writers knew whether it would be its last and sadly the lion's share of the episodes that year were kind of at this level.

I think your analysis is on point, but only in hindsight. I've studied this episode fairly closely and Jeffrey Bell is, sad to say, one of the weakest writers the X-files ever had. If there is meaning in this episode I have no doubt Bell only put it in accidentally. It's all about the snakes and religion is kind of a secondary thing. You can't even really point to the fact that the monster gets away with what he does in the episode as a larger point - I can think of a dozen episodes where the monster got away scot free and those are just the mythology ones. I think even Bell would look at your analysis and say: "Did I mean to say that when I wrote it?"

That said, its still a well written piece and I can't find it in my heart to critique that harshly a fellow X-Phile. I've actually written a couple of articles myself linking to the X-Files to the mythos and cynicism of the era and how other series bobbled in comparison. If you ever find the time, i would be glad to send you the links.