© 2000 Meredith Sprunger
© 2000 The Christian Fellowship of Students of The Urantia Book
There is a sharp divergence of opinion in the Urantia movement on the use of the copyright and the service marks associated with The Urantia Book. I have refrained from a full expression of my opinion on these issues because I have close friends on both sides of this controversy and because I prefer to avoid political involvement. Outreach activity and spiritual ministry, in my judgment, are the most important activities needed by our society.
But it may be time to state my opinion on these issues. I believe we are facing a critical period in the Urantia movement and decisions made in the next few years may determine our direction in the next generation, and beyond. It was my privilege and blessing to develop a close friendship with Dr. Sadler, Christy, and many of the members of the Forum. They would certainly regret the division that has developed in the Urantia movement.
Dr. Sadler and Christy shared with us many of the papers of instruction received from the revelators which were to be destroyed at the time of their graduation to the Mansion Worlds. They were instructed to get a copyright to the Urantia Papers and were told that most of the danger of the corruption of the Papers would be passed after the first generation of protection.
I believe it was important to have copyright protection during the first generation of their existence. Urantia Foundation and Urantia Brotherhood were created as separate, autonomous organizations. They were expected to operate independently but cooperatively. For a generation this plan worked in excellent fashion. Then, largely due to the legal mind of one of the Foundation trustees, the concentric circle symbol and the word “Urantia” were registered as service marks and societies were required to sign agreements with the Foundation to use them. Through the legal strategy of the service marks the Foundation was able to control Brotherhood policy and action. A struggle for independence and power began which culminated in the Foundation terminating the Brotherhood’s use of these service marks and the Brotherhood was asked to move from 533 Diversey Parkway. The power struggle continued with the Foundation’s creation of the International Urantia Association (IUA), as well as the Maaherra lawsuit.
During the struggle three of the Foundation trustees resigned and eventually Martin Myers was ejected as a Foundation trustee. The Foundation began an energetic and commendable policy of publishing translations of the Urantia Papers in other languages, and liberalized permission to quote from The Urantia Book and to use the concentric circles. There have been various attempts to promote cooperation between The Urantia Book Fellowship (former Brotherhood), the IUA, and the Foundation. There was some progress made; however, when the Michael Foundation published Jesus — A New Revelation, the Foundation filed another lawsuit and concomitantly made new requests of the Fellowship. There are some members of the Fellowship General Council who believe the Foundation’s intention is to so cripple the Fellowship that it will be unable to exist as a viable organization. I’m confident the Foundation would deny this accusation. Nevertheless, a critical situation exists in the Urantia movement.
In the face of the bitter struggle that has developed in the Urantia movement, I believe it would be better for the Fifth Epochal Revelation if it were in the public domain. More than a generation has passed since its publication and, with almost 500,000 copies in print, there will never be much question about the “inviolate text.” In addition, the Foundation will continue to publish its format of the Urantia Papers.
The central reason why I believe it would be better for the Fifth Epocal Revelation to be in the public domain is that it would remove the basic weapon in the power struggle in the Urantia movement. I question the wisdom of using secular laws to control the use of the Fifth Epochal Revelation. My short term human judgment may be in error. This issue, I think, would be an ideal controversy for the Universal Conciliators to settle. Unfortunately, they are not available to us.
Since Conciliators are not available to us, we must use our own legal system. Court decisions on the copyright have fluctuated. Judge Urbom ruled that the Urantia Papers are in the public domain. The appeal court reversed this decision. But the interpretation of the appeal court decision is ambiguous. Is The Urantia Book copyright like Bible copyrights, where the text is in the public domain but the specific format is copyrightable? A court ruling may be necessary to decide this ambiguity. The court decision on the legality of the copyright in the Michael Foundation lawsuit, I believe, will be definitive. Whatever the decision, I think it should be accepted in the Urantia movement. We need to accept the legal status of the Urantia Papers and concentrate on outreach activity and spiritual ministry.
I believe it is good for the Foundation to have service marks. But I think it is unfortunate that they chose the concentric circle symbol of the Trinity and the supermortal name of our planet. This is similar to the Christian Church attempting to control the use of the cross. I would hope the Foundation will choose other service marks and place the concentric circle symbol and the name Urantia in the public domain. My guess is that these marks will be so generally used in the future that they will eventually be lost as exclusive service marks anyway.
It is my hope and prayer that we may have unity of purpose amid the diversity of opinions and activities. We should support the Foundation in its publication of Urantia Book translations and study materials. It is my conviction that, in spite of mistakes and controversies, the Fifth Epochal Revelation will make its way throughout the world and transform it in the next 2000 years.