© 1991 Trevor Swadling
© 1991 ANZURA, Australia & New Zealand Urantia Association
By Trevor Swadling, Sydney
Lately, a lot of material has been circulated concerning the current legal struggle between The URANTIA Foundation and Kristen Maaherra. I am amazed that most of this material portrays Ms Maaherra as an innocent victim or a “fall guy”, caught between the “super powers” of the URANTIA movement. Some like to think of her as an innocent pawn in the game, and are even soliciting funds from readers for her defence. However, as with any dispute, there is often more than meets the eye. One very strong point of view in favour of Ms Maaherra appeared in the August/September issue of Six-0-Six titled “An Analysis of the Kristen Maaherra Case” by Ken Glasziou. I would like to attempt to analyse this further in the light of considering its possible repercussions for the revelation.
As we all know, one of the functions of the URANTIA Foundation is to protect the text of The URANTIA Book. Article 3.1 of the Declaration of Trust Creating URANTIA Foundation provides that: “It shall be the primary duty of the Trustees to perpetually preserve inviolate the text of the URANTIA Book …” Article 3.3 emphasizes that: “It shall be the duty of the Trustees to retain absolute and unconditional control of all plates and other media for the printing and reproduction of The URANTIA Book and any translation thereof…”
There seems to be a grey area in readers’ interpretations of what “spreading the gospel” means. Many sincere readers feel compelled to dedicate their lives to the spreading of this revelation. The revelation does need these dedicated men and women to work for this noble cause, but problems can arise in the methods they employ to undertake this “calling”.
A line has been drawn by the Foundation, concerning the URANTIA Book, the name and trade mark. However individuals are free, and are in fact encouraged, to spread the teachings. It is not The Foundation’s policy to object to how people read or use the copies of the book which they buy for personal use, however they do raise objection where there is a violation of their copyright or registered marks, or when someone attempts to use the book for his or her own purposes, in ways which are not consistent with the quiet, slow, person to person spread of the book.
From my understanding, after reading The URANTIA Book, these policies are consistent with the book’s teachings. When individuals and groups find it necessary to adopt various methods of spreading the book itself in a commercial sense, then they can clash with The URANTIA Foundation — under these circumstances they sometimes create confusion amongst the readership and even run counter to what the Foundation is attempting to achieve. When people are stopped by the Foundation, naturally they can feel restricted and often feel it necessary to retaliate.
This retaliation manifests itself in interesting ways; often there is confrontation — some claim that the Trustees are agents of Caligastia trying to stop God’s work, others petition for their resignation saying they are unfit for this work. Lobby groups have developed, blackening the characters of the Trustees and questioning the very function of the Foundation altogether. A lot of hearsay and rumours are published and circulated, and without seeing the whole picture, many are willing to believe and condemn.Perhaps one of the problems is that too many people are trying to be a Trustee of The URANTIA Book and it will just not work.
I have no problem agreeing that the work done by Kristen Maaherra was a mighty task. But even were she the innocent she claims to be, good motives have never been justification by taking matters into one’s own hands. This is especially so as it concerns epochal revelation. Surely, the default of Adam and Eve tragically portrays for all time the ugly results of relying solely on even the highest motives and even good intentions in proceeding with an epochal program of planetary uplift as a single individual’s personal belief might dictate.
One cannot help but seriously question Kristen’s sincerity as she now tries to hide behind the very excuse the book repudiates. Ms Maaherra herself has stated, “The book on disk violates copyright and is not legal.” She has also declared, “So far we’ve sent out (given away) $\ 100,000 worth of disks (this is computed according to the price the Foundation is planning to put on it’s computer data base program when it is finished)”. She knew the Foundation was working on this project and she deliberately pre-empted their efforts.
The Revelation Does Need These Dedicated Men And Women To Work For This noble cause, but problems can arise in the methods they employ to undertake this “calling”.
She knew what she was doing and she knew that it was illegal — where are the standards of honesty and uprightness in this case if sincerity and purity are her defenses? Also can we safely assume that the text she created is unadulterated, indeed, not only has this not been established, but also, there are no assurances that the text has not undergone yet further degradation or contamination during the numerous duplications and distributions which have occurred.
Ms Maaherra, in spite of conscious wrong doing has not sought to remedy the damage she and others have caused instead she is asserting that The URANTIA Book should not be protected under the copy right laws claiming that the book is her religion. She means to challenge the Foundation’s right to copyright under the First
Amendment of the constitution of the United States of America — freedom of religion. This has resulted in all sorts of attacks coming out of the woodwork aimed at the Foundation. Accusations are being made that copyright was obtained illegally, and that changes have been made to the text: more ammunition to fire at the Foundation. The very function of the Foundation is under fire. Do we realise what sort of damage is being done here? If the outcome of this confrontation results in the destruction of the only means we have for protecting this book, what a sad scenario this would be. I am flabbergasted and dismayed at the attitude of many of my fellow readers!
The Foundation needs to protect the book — they were told that this was one of their most important, ongoing duties! Let’s for one moment, put ourselves in the shoes of the Trustees; how would we feel if we were given the ongoing task of disseminating and protecting the Fifth Epochal Revelation and that our trust is based on a document of human origin which had the approval of the Revelatory Commission. What a responsibility to hold knowing the imperfections and shortcomings of yourself and your fellow men and women. However, being dedicated to your task, you bravely face the challenges that confront you each day. Increasingly, elements within the movement are creating divisions over certain issues. Some groups think the book should go public now, the world is ready for it, what are we waiting for? We were told this book “would attract so many differently motivated men — good, bad and indifferent” — even psychics with similar views to the likes of Sherman. You weigh all this up, you move forward with your aims and objectives. You and your fellow Trustees are committed to seeing this revelation succeed. What do you do when a group insists that you have no right to stop them from doing as they please? Remember your trust. What do you do when you find out that a group of readers are secretly distributing large quantities of illegal disks which hold the entire text of The URANTIA Book complete with trade marks, and encouraging people actively to copy and spread them? — you cannot let it go unchallenged — you would be betraying your trust. I feel the Trustee’s plight needs to be considered and understood before we readily condemn their actions.
Some may argue that there were other ways of handing this conflict other than taking people to court. I am satisfied that the Trustees only resort to these measures when all other avenues have been exhausted — “it takes two to tango…”
My closing comments on this issue are that if those who are plotting the downfall of the URANTIA Foundation cause this revelation to go into the public domain prematurely, then our task will take a lot longer, be much greater, and be a lot harder. I hope and pray that we come to our senses before we do much more damage, and to be wiser in the way we conduct ourselves, and that we do not take ourselves too seriously. “The act is ours — the consequence is God’s.” Maximum results will only be achieved by us being united in the spirit. We don’t all have to think alike as long as we work together towards our common goal, but when hate and malice enter the picture — God help us!
Only The Guy Who Isn’t Rowing Has Time To Rock The Boat.
Saunders