Humanism - humanist profile

Humanist, March-April, 2003

humanism is a rational philosophy informed by science, inspired by art, and motivated by compassion. Affirming the dignity of each human being, it supports the maximization of individual liberty and opportunity consonant with social and planetary responsibility. It advocates the extension of participatory democracy and the expansion of the open society, standing for human rights and social justice. Free of supernaturalism, it recognizes human beings as a part of nature and holds that values--be they religious, ethical, social, or political--have their source in human nature, experience, and culture. Humanism thus derives the goals of life from human need and interest rather than from theological or ideological abstractions and asserts that humanity must take responsibility for its own destiny.

humanist profile

Majel Barrett Roddenberry 1995 Humanist Arts Awardee

We are all alien in one way or another. And those seemingly overwhelming problems are simply conditions which exist in order to draw us together. And draw together we must, for that is the only way to the future.

--Majel Barrett Roddenberry in the July/August 1995 Humanist

Majel Barrett was born on February 23, 1939, in Columbus, Ohio, and attended the University of Miami in Florida, majoring in radio, drama, and television. She appeared in various television shows in the 1950s and signed a contract with Desilu studios (the studio that later helped develop Star Trek). She appeared in television shows such as The Untouchables and Bonanza. She also appeared in the films Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter, The Black Orchid, The Quick and the Dead, Sylvia, Country Boy, A Guide for the Married Man, The Second Hundred Years, Track of Thunder, and others. In 1964 Gene Roddenberry cast her as Number One in the pilot for his series, Star Trek. She later had a lasting role in the series as Nurse Christine Chapel. She was also the voice of the federation computer--a role she continued in the Star Trek: Next Generation movies and on the television series Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In December 1969 Majel and Gene married; they remained together until his death in 1991. In February 1974 she gave birth to Eugene Wesley Roddenberry Jr. In 1987 she began her most notorious and beloved role as Lwaxana Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Majel was honored in 1995 with the American Humanist Association's Humanist Arts Award. In 1996 she became executive producer for a series her husband had developed in the mid-1970s, renamed Earth: Final Conflict. Involved with animal rights, she has developed the Gene Roddenberry Animal Sanctuary, a no-kill animal shelter for dogs and cats in the Los Angeles area. She is a widely sought public speaker on the role the Star Trek series has played in inspiring new technologies, continues to sit on the board of governors for the National Space Society, and recently opened the Gene Roddenberry Center for Aerospace Medicine.