© 2003 The Urantia Book Fellowship
“The great hope of Urantia lies in the possibility of a new revelation of Jesus with a new and enlarged presentation of his saving message which would spiritually unite in loving service the numerous families of his present-day professed followers.” [UB 195:10.16]
¶ Copyright Litigation and The Urantia Book
Notwithstanding that Jesus instructed his Apostles to “Be willing to suffer injustice rather than to go to law among yourselves,” for almost five decades devoted believers in The Urantia Book have periodically engaged in copyright and trademark litigation against one another. The total amount of money spent on these legal activities by all parties amounts to many millions of dollars. It is a sum sufficient to have given away for free every copy of The Urantia Book that has ever been printed. But far more distressing is the intense bitterness and sectarian division this endless litigation has fostered among individuals and organizations dedicated to the revelation.
On October 6, 2003, the latest in this series of legal battles was concluded when the Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear an appeal from Urantia Foundation seeking to overturn the decision of lower courts that Urantia Foundation’s 1983 claim of copyright renewal in The Urantia Book (English edition) invalid and therefore void. Thus, in 1983, The Urantia Book passed permanently into the public domain. Any individual or group is legally permitted to publish The Urantia Book.
All parties to these legal contests sincerely believe in their cause. All love the book and seek what they believe is best for it. None acted from malice or evil intended motivation. Nevertheless, in spite of sincere motives, the adversarial nature of litigation has divided our community. These divisions cannot serve the cause of The Urantia Book in the world. We must find a way to overcome this problem if our evangelistic efforts are to lead to any positive and lasting result.
The latest and most significant of these legal contests is over. We hope that it will be the last such battle among readers, and that the era of employing litigation as a means of promoting the interests of The Urantia Book will pass into history. We hope all readers will work to foster sincere attitudes of understanding, mutual respect, forgiveness, and true brotherly love. As a community we must take that path in a wholehearted and sustained manner. In the past we have approached it tentatively, but now we must trust ourselves to it fully and without reservation. Perhaps this is the opportunity to give that way, Jesus’ way, a sincere and sustained chance.
¶ The Parliament of the World’s Religions
The Urantia Book Fellowship recently decided to combine its 2004 Summer Study Session with the Heart of America Society’s annual conference, taking place September 17—19. This decision was made to facilitate greater Urantian attendance at the Parliament of the World’s Religions, taking place July 7—13, 2004 in Barcelona, Spain.
The Fellowship participated in both the 1993 and 1999 Parliaments and many Fellowship members would like to attend the 2004 Parliament. SSS04 was originally planned for mid-July, which made attendance at both events nearly impossible. However, the idea of combining SSS04 with the Kansas City conference at Unity Village will facilitate a larger group of readers being able to attend both events. The Summer Seminar theme was to be on Interfaith, but the theme at the Kansas City conference is “The Universal Mother Spirit.” Though the conference focus will be on the Mother Spirit, Parliament attendees are planning a special presentation on interfaith for those who could not attend. In addition, the Fellowship’s General Council will be meeting on Sunday afternoon and Monday (September 19th and 20th) directly following the Kansas City conference.
The Parliament of the World’s Religions is the greatest interfaith event in the world. There will be thousands of spiritually open young people there as well as religionists from nearly every faith and country. The Interfaith program is of the highest caliber, with plenary presentations and worships presented by the cream of the world’s religionists. The Parliament is also a premium outreach opportunity; the quality of contacts made there and the educational opportunities are unsurpassed. Urantia Book readers who have attended both the 1993 and 1999 Parliaments consider them to be some of the most pivotal and transformational events of their lives.
For those who would normally have attended the Summer Seminar in July and can’t find a way to attend the Parliament in Barcelona or the Kansas City conference in September, we recommend looking into one of the other great regional Urantia conferences that occur annually in Leesburg, FL (May) and Dallas, TX (October). There is also an IUA conference planned for the end of July in Chicago. Look for more information about these conferences in future newsletters.
The Parliament is giving us a special group rate for program registration of $325 per person, which will be good until January 15, 2004. (If you register, please select the $325 fee and note on the registration that this is the Urantia Group Discount per Francessca.) T his is for the program only and does not include meals or lodging. We have someone looking into a discounted air package for us. If you would like to go, keep in mind that you will need to have a valid US passport and that it takes at least four weeks to secure one. There are student rates for lodging that are reasonable, being just $30 nightly for a shared room. If you have miles saved up you can get a free international ticket for 50,000 miles. It looks like the overall cost for an individual to attend may be as low as $1700 (allowing $1000 for air fare). We will have The Urantia Book exhibit booth there and volunteering at the booth could make the cost of the trip tax deductible. You can register online and read atl about The Parliament and its amazing history at www.CPWR.org. We hope to see you in Barcelona, Spain! If you would like more information about this wonderful opportunity, please contact either Rebecca Kantor at 707-823-4368 (or rebkant@aol.com) or Paula Thompson at 303-440-0688 (or Ubooksrus@aol.com).
¶ IC’05 Planning Process Underway!!
The Next 50 Years
The next Urantia Book Fellowship International Conference is slated to be held at Villanova University near Philadelphia from July 30—August 4, 2005. The year 2005 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Urantia Book, and as the title “MAKING SPIRIT MATER: The Next 50 Years” indicates, the conference is intended to celebrate this significant anniversary as we look forward to the next fifty years of growth.
Conference coordinators are excited about trying out some new programming ideas this time around. Plans are being made to offer three tracks—in science, philosophy and theology, and experiential spirituality— in order to provide attendees with a wide, yet coherent, choice of opportunities to study the teachings.
Those who are planning to attend and would like to submit ideas for lectures, presentations, or workshops in one of the three areas mentioned above are urged to begin now to formulate and develop their ideas for consideration by the program coordinators. Readers from non-English speaking countries are also encouraged to attend and prepare presentations; every effort will be made to make translations of previously submitted written materials and/or live translation of presentations for English-speaking participants during the conference.
Space for workshops is more limited than at IC’02, so the presentations will need to focus more clearly on the teachings presented by The Urantia Book. Nevertheless, the conference coordinators would like to feature a healthy variety of workshops in each topical category. Suggestions for a conference logo are still welcome, and designs should artistically incorporate the title of the conference.
Villanova University is a strikingly beautiful campus and contains a commuter rail station with easy access to Philadelphia and the airport. T his is your conference. Help to make it more so by planning to attend and possibly contribute to the educational programs that are the heart of the conference. Please communicate with the organizing team by sending your ideas to The Urantia Book Fellowship, 99 Park Ave., #434A, New York, NY 1 00 1 6 or by email to: fellowship@urantiabook.org.
¶ News from Our Readers
FROM CONNECTICUT:
On November 15 and 16, the Connecticut Fellowship participated in the Boston Whole Health Expo. Readers from Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island assisted in booth coverage. It was exciting for everyone to speak directly to people discovering the book for the first time.
Twelve Urantia Books were sold, seven Old printing books given out, five Jesus—A New Revelation sold, one index and quite a few angel postcards. Many thanks to Charlene Wakefield for providing the postcards…they seemed to draw people to the booth!
God willing, our group will sponsor a booth at the Whole Health Expo in Pittsburgh, PA in the spring of 2004, and we hope for participation from local readers there.
FROM PENNSYLVANIA:
As a result of readers coming together at last summer’s study session at East Stroudsburg University, a new Urantia Book study group has formed and meets regularly in the Poconos. For further information, contact Linda Buselli at ljbuselli@earthlink.net.
Please send us news of your group’s activities. A description of your outreach efforts, for instance, can inspire other groups to similar attempts. And we’d like to hear about your retreats and mini-conferences also. Send all news items to The Fellowship at fellowship@urantiabook.org.
¶ GC Meeting in February, 2004
Have you ever attended a meeting of the Fellowship General Council? You’re invited to observe the Council in session at their meeting in Newport Beach, California, February 7, 2004. The Council Will begin its session on Saturday, February 7, at 9 a.m. at the Hyatt Newporter Hotel and continue until 5 p.m. This is a good opportunity to get to know the councilors.
Come and watch the Council at work and enjoy the fellowship of other readers. Hope to see you there!
¶ Urantia Can You Imagine?
Imagine a world, our world, in peace
The brotherhood of all people
Sincerely in our hearts and mind.
Exploring, enjoying endless paths
Of Infinite, Eternal Love;
The joyful struggle of evolving souls.
Our experiences, our relationships
Shared with the Father of all
United as Universe Children.
John Lennon said it this way:
“You may say l’m a dreamer,
But l’m not the only one.
I hope some day you’ll join us,
And the world Will live as one.”
Join us, The Urantia Book Fellowship, in our efforts to distribute The Urantia Book and its teachings to people around the world. Your financial support makes it possible for us to reach out to men and women in all parts of the planet—to readers and leaders who are ready for this revelation and able to carry it forward to future generations.
The Fellowship does so much service work; but at the very least, your funds help us to foster the revelation’s light into many diverse cultures.
PLEASE FILL OUT THE ENCLOSED CONTRIBUTION ENVELOPE. YOUR SUPPORT NEEDED AND MUCH APPRECIATED!
¶ Pipeline of Light project to be expanded
The Pipeline of Light was created as a joint project between The Jesusonian Foundation and The Urantia Book Fellowship to help bring the revelation to readers in Central and South America who cannot afford to purchase El Libro de Urantia for themselves. To date, we have collected $1014, enough to purchase, ship, and place over 160 books. This has been a wonderfully effective way to make a difference in the awareness of the revelation throughout Central and South America.
Due to the success of the Spanish book project, we are happy to announce that this fall we are expanding the efforts of the Pipeline of Light to include donations of books in all languages presently available. There is a current need for French books in Africa; English books in India, Pakistan and the United States; Russian books in Russia; and of course a continuing need for El Libro in Central and South American countries. Domestic book donations are managed through The Fellowship’s Outreach Committee; book donations outside of the United States are coordinated by its International Committee. We hope you Will join us in our quest to spread the revelation to new readers worldwide. Because the foreign language books used for the pipeline are purchased from Urantia Foundation, it’s a win/win for everyone involved.
Please consider a donation to this wonderful project! Thanks.
Michelle Klimesh
The General Council of The Urantia Book Fellowship
Meet the real man behind the oficial face. Meet John Hales in the next Mighty Messenger.
¶ Mighty Messenger
Published by Uversa Press for the Publications Committee of The Urantia Book Fellowship
Members: Linda Buselli, Chair Nancy Johnson, Sage Waitts, Gary Deinstadt, Joe Liszka, Lynda D’Arcangelo
Phone toll free_ 877-288-3772
email: fellowship@urantiabook.org
website: http://www.urantiabook.org
¶ External Links
- Newsletter in Urantia Book Historical Society: https://ubhs.hosted-by-files.com/http/FrameDocTypesBZ.html