--- title: "Boldly going: Humanist Heritage launches a tour of science fiction’s humanist history for Star Trek’s 60th anniversary" date: "2026-09-03T15:20:00+01:00" modified: "2026-09-03T15:34:12+01:00" url: "https://humanists.uk/2026/09/03/boldly-going-humanist-heritage-launches-a-tour-of-science-fictions-humanist-history-for-star-treks-60th-anniversary/" post_id: 196873 categories: ["News", "Northern Ireland", "Wales"] --- # Boldly going: Humanist Heritage launches a tour of science fiction’s humanist history for Star Trek’s 60th anniversary [![](https://i0.wp.com/humanists.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026-03-09-GH-Star-Trek-1.png?resize=1200%2C628&ssl=1)](https://heritage.humanists.uk/exhibition/science-fiction-and-humanism/)**This coming Tuesday, 8 September, marks 60 years since an American television network broadcast the first episode of a series about a starship crew exploring the galaxy with no chaplain on the bridge.** The creator of *Star Trek*, Gene Roddenberry, was a humanist, and he built his humanist ideas and convictions into the show. Humanity had an amazing future ahead of it, as he saw it, to be found in values and principles of collaboration, diplomacy, democracy, the rule of law, scientific discovery, intellectual openness, and kindness – not miracles. To mark the anniversary, Humanists UK’s Humanist Heritage project has launched [*The history of science fiction and humanism*](https://heritage.humanists.uk/exhibition/science-fiction-and-humanism/), a free online tour of the genre from its earliest ancestors to the present day, told through the freethinkers, atheists, and humanists who shaped it. [**TAKE THE VIRTUAL TOUR 🖖**](https://heritage.humanists.uk/exhibition/science-fiction-and-humanism/) The tour opens with the satirists and utopians who wrote of Moon voyages and imaginary islands centuries before anyone had heard of science fiction, from Lucian of Samosata in the 2nd century to [Margaret Cavendish](https://heritage.humanists.uk/margaret-cavendish/) and [Aphra Behn](https://heritage.humanists.uk/aphra-behn/) in the 17th. It then turns to [Mary Shelley](https://heritage.humanists.uk/mary-shelley/), a humanist raised in the most notorious freethinking household in England, whose *Frankenstein* (1818) is now widely credited as the first true science fiction novel. From there it follows the genre through humanists like [HG Wells](https://heritage.humanists.uk/h-g-wells/), [EM Forster](https://heritage.humanists.uk/e-m-forster/), [George Orwell](https://heritage.humanists.uk/george-orwell/), [Douglas Adams](https://heritage.humanists.uk/douglas-adams/), and [Maureen Duffy](https://heritage.humanists.uk/maureen-duffy/) and to the present day. The tour also takes in the screen, from *Godzilla* and *Dr. Strangelove* to *Doctor Who*, *Futurama*, *Rick and Morty*, and of course *Star Trek* itself, and asks why a genre about the future keeps arriving at humanist answers: that we are on our own, that we are responsible for this one life we have, and that the future is ours to make. The tour draws on the research of the [Humanist Heritage project](https://heritage.humanists.uk/), which for the past five years has been uncovering the contribution of humanists and humanist ideas to British life, from the campaigners who won the welfare state and the reforms of the 1960s to the poets and novelists who imagined a better world before anyone had built one. The project’s website now holds hundreds of articles on the people, places, and movements of that history, and forms part of Humanists UK’s wider educational work, which reaches more than a million people a year through free resources for schools, teachers, and the public. #### **Online event** On the anniversary itself, Humanists UK will mark Star Trek’s diamond jubilee with [‘**Star Trek at 60: Interstellar humanism**](https://humanists.uk/events/interstellar-humanism/)’, an online event on Tuesday 8 September at 19:30. Philosopher, University of Sussex humanist pastoral carer, and lifelong *Star Trek* fan Dr James Croft will travel beyond the final frontier to explore how *Star Trek*‘s interstellar humanism promotes reason, pluralism, and moral courage. Tickets are £4.50. [![Event image: Star Trek at 60: Interstellar humanism](https://cdn.humanists.uk/wp-content/uploads/20260824-185546-2026-07-31-v1-IS-Star-Trek-at-60-1920x1080-16x9-1.jpg?width=800)](https://humanists.uk/events/interstellar-humanism/)##### [Star Trek at 60: Interstellar humanism](https://humanists.uk/events/interstellar-humanism/) Online **8 September 2026, 19:30** *Online* Star Trek is one of the most successful media franchises in history – and may be the most influential humanist artwork ever. Beloved all over the world, Trek’s vision of the human future in space has inspired millions. On the 60th anniversary of the first episode’s airing, we ask what are its achievements, what are the possibilities for its future, and why do we love it so very much? [More info](https://humanists.uk/events/interstellar-humanism/ "More info")[Register now](https://humanists.uk/civicrm/event/register/?id=2934&reset=1 "Register Now") #### **Unholy Histories podcast episode** For those who want to hear the story told, the Humanist Heritage podcast [*Unholy Histories*](https://unholyhistories.humanists.uk/), hosted by Humanists UK Chief Executive Andrew Copson and Humanist Heritage Manager Madeleine Goodall, devoted a recent episode to the subject. [‘Imagining better futures: humanist thought and the radical power of science fiction’](https://unholyhistories.humanists.uk/2489236/episodes/19410135-imagining-better-futures-humanist-thought-and-the-radical-power-of-science-fiction) begins with Mary Shelley’s question about what we owe the beings we create and follows it through two centuries of time machines and starships. It is available on all major podcast platforms, with a video version on the [Humanists UK YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3gyWWntDrk). #### **Humanists UK Chief Executive Andrew Copson commented:** > ‘Science fiction is the literature of “what if…?”, and for two hundred years the people asking that provocative question have very often been humanists. Mary Shelley, HG Wells, Isaac Asimov, Gene Roddenberry: none of them looked to the heavens for salvation, and all of them believed the future was something human beings would have to build for themselves. We hope the new Humanist Heritage will delight science fiction fans at the same time as educating many more people about the humanist tradition.’ #### Notes For further comment or information, media should contact Humanists UK Head of Press and Campaign Communications Nathan Stilwell at or phone 0203 675 0959 (media only). [Humanist Heritage](http://heritage.humanists.uk) is a project of Humanists UK charting the contributions made by humanists and humanism to the history of the United Kingdom. - Take the science fiction and humanism tour at [heritage.humanists.uk/exhibition/science-fiction-and-humanism ](https://heritage.humanists.uk/exhibition/science-fiction-and-humanism/) - Check out previous Humanist Heritage exhibitions at [heritage.humanists.uk/exhibitions](https://heritage.humanists.uk/exhibitions). - Listen to [*Unholy Histories*](http://unholyhistories.humanists.uk/) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and all major podcast platforms. Humanists UK is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people. Powered by over 150,000 members and supporters, we advance free thinking and promote humanism to create a tolerant society where rational thinking and kindness prevail. We provide ceremonies, pastoral care, education, and support services benefiting over a million people every year and our campaigns advance humanist thinking on ethical issues, human rights, and equal treatment for all.