It's always amazed me that the character "Q" was such a fan favorite in the Star Trek franchises, and his episodes get great reviews for being intellectual and pondering the deep mysteries of the universe and human psyche. Even the season 2 episode of Voyager, "The Thaw," with its frenetic circus bullies, gets high marks for probing what it means to fear.
Yet "Sacred Ground" gets low reviews here, seemingly because self-professed science lovers are jumping out of their heads, offended that there is an alien religion in the episode. I find this confusing, because very many Star Trek episodes are heavily imbued with spirituality and religion. How can haters of this episode watch any of Deep Space 9, with its entire plot wrapped around a religion's protective spirits selecting a Federation officer to take their part in a cosmic war with evil wraith spirits?
Anyway, I tend to find Star Trek very boring when it's trying to philosophize. They only reach as far as a middle class sort of intellectualism. But this episode isn't about religion or meaning of life type stuff, it is about Janeway getting in her own way and having to learn that she has some leadership flaws that have been masquerading as Starfleet virtues. Janeway doesn't come around to religion and start doubting science, as many negative reviewers insist.
Janeway essentially undertook corporate management training and learned that she is so quick to give and take orders that she was losing grasp of her instincts and patience to solve a problem. She learned a new way to approach Voyager's predicament--instead of viewing it as a series of challenges she is really creating out of thin air to feel she is being productive, she may need to be open to the holistic experience of being in the Delta quadrant.
I do wish more time had been granted to Janeway's moment of enlightenment--this might help it feel less "religious." The downside to this episode is that honestly, I don't think Janeway actually needed these lessons, and I don't think she would have behaved as single-mindedly as she did starting the ritual, trying to bulldoze her way through it.