© 1999 Seppo Kanerva, Rick Warren
© 1999 Urantia Foundation
A monthly News Bulletin from Urantia Foundation to IUA Officers, Foundation Office Managers, Coordinating Committee members, Foundation Representatives, Translators, and other readers for the purpose of disseminating this information to readers in local areas.
¶ Part IV Illegally Printed
We are sad to acknowledge that one of our brothers and fellow readers, Harry McMullan III, a General Councilor, a member of the Executive Committee, and the Treasurer of the Fellowship, has chosen to print Part IV of The Urantia Book. One of the Trustees, an old and dear friend of Mr. McMullan’s, as well as numerous other individuals, have repeatedly appealed to him not to pursue this illegal and unauthorized publication.
We see Mr. McMullan’s publishing Part IV separate from Parts I, II, and III as counterproductive for the following reasons:
- It is illegal.
- It does not preserve the text-the entire text-inviolate.
- It must surely frustrate the efforts of the authors of the book as they have given us a carefully painted picture of the cosmos, its origin, history, and destiny in relation to the life and teachings of Jesus, our Creator Son, as he is carefully portrayed in Parts I, II, III, and IV of the book.
- It encourages other people to break up the book, to break the law, and to violate the copyright.
- It presents the Urantia teachings as a Christian cult—especially with the crucified Christ on the cover—rather than as the fifth epochal revelation to the entire world. The Foundation has worked diligently to avoid presenting The Urantia Book as another “white man’s religion”—witness the Korean and Arabic translations and the Trustees’ recent trip to Muslim Senegal.
- It is an affront to the unity initiatives.
A Divine Counselor of Uversa warns us on paragraphs 19:1.4-12:
[T]here is always great danger of succumbing to the error of the circumscribed viewpoint, to the evil inherent in a segmentalized conception of reality and divinity.
For example: The human mind would ordinarily crave to approach the cosmic philosophy portrayed in these revelations by proceeding from the simple and the finite to the complex and the infinite, from human origins to divine destinies. But that path does not lead to spiritual wisdom. Such a procedure is the easiest path to a certain form of genetic knowledge, but at best it can only reveal man’s origin; it reveals little or nothing about his divine destiny.
Even in the study of man’s biologic evolution on Urantia, there are grave objections to the exclusive historic approach to his present-day status and his current problems. The true perspective of any reality problem—human or divine, terrestrial or cosmic—can be had only by the full and unprejudiced study and correlation of three phases of universe reality: origin, history, and destiny. The proper understanding of these three experiential realities affords the basis for a wise estimate of the current status.
When the human mind undertakes to follow the philosophic technique of starting from the lower to approach the higher, whether in biology or theology, it is always in danger of committing four errors of reasoning:
It may utterly fail to perceive the final and completed evolutionary goal of either personal attainment or cosmic destiny.
It may commit the supreme philosophical blunder by oversimplifying cosmic evolutionary (experiential) reality, thus leading to the distortion of facts, to the perversion of truth, and to the misconception of destinies.
The study of causation is the perusal of history. But the knowledge of how a being becomes does not necessarily provide an intelligent understanding of the present status and true character of such a being.
History alone fails adequately to reveal future development-destiny. Finite origins are helpful, but only divine causes revealfinal effects. Eternal ends are not shown in time beginnings. The present can be truly interpreted only in the light of the correlated past and future.
Therefore, because of these andfor still other reasons, do we employ the technique of approaching man and his planetary problems by embarkation on the timespace journey from the infinite, eternal, and divine Paradise Source and Center of all personality reality and all cosmic existence. [The Urantia Book UB 19:1.4-12]
The Trustees and staff of Urantia Foundation, the leadership of the International Urantia Association, and many members of the Fellowship have vigorously in thought, word, and deed promoted and pursued a policy of unity and cooperation among readers and reader groups. Acting on his own, without the approval of the Fellowship’S General Council, Mr. McMullan, the Treasurer of the Fellowship, has illegally printed 15,000 copies of Part IV of The Urantia Book. In so doing, he is causing controversy and divisiveness within the community of readers.
We believe the copyright to be an important tool to preserve inviolate the text of The Urantia Book for current and especially for future generations. The preservation of the inviolate text has always been, according to the Declaration of Trust, the Trustees’ “primary duty.” Dr. Sadler wrote a history, which he never published but shared with early readers. In his history, Dr. Sadler said:
“The [Contact] Commissioners were the custodians of the Urantia manuscript, keeping the carbon copy of the typewritten transcript in a firepro of vault. They were also charged withfull responsibility for supervising all the details connected with the publication of the Book, securing the international copyrights, etc.”
Accordingly, in 1932, Wilfred Kellogg (one of the Contact Commissioners) initiated correspondence with the United States Copyright office in an effort to obtain a copyright which would protect The Urantia Book “against infringement for an indefinite period.” There are copies of this correspondence in the Foundation’s files.
Those individuals who were involved in the early years knew that midwayer instructions existed, and these instructions were of ten quoted in papers written and speeches made by early leaders of the Foundation and the Brotherhood. Some opponents of the copyright discredit these instructions because acknowledging them would mean acknowledging the need for, and the importance of, the copyright.
In her “A History of the Urantia Movement,” Emma L. Christensen (a Contact Commissioner commonly known as Christy) wrote the following:
- Under the guidance of the Revelatory Commission, Urantia Foundation was formed on January 11, 1950.
- Urantia Foundation is intended to act as a shield for the Revelation. It was charged “to perpetually preserve inviolate the text of The Urantia Book,” including any translations and derivative works. It has the ultimate responsibility “to disseminate the principles, teachings, and doctrines of The Urantia Book.”
- The copyright to The Urantia Book and the registered marks “Urantia” and the Concentric-Circles Symbol are important defenses for the preservation of the text and the disseminating of the teachings. Hand in hand with legal authority, support and friendship from many readers has always been essential.
- Until the time of its publication, The Urantia Book had been under the guidance of the Revelatory Commission.
The Contact Commissioners were told that the Urantia revelation was authorized by Michael of Nebadon himself. This is substantiated in the book on page 241 :
After his elevation to settled sovereignty in a local universe a Paradise Michael is in full control of all other Sons of God functioning in his domain, and he may freely rule in accordance with his concept of the needs of his realms. A Master Son may at will vary the order of the spiritual adjudication and evolutionary adjustment of the inhabited planets. And such Sons do make and carry out the plans of their own choosing in all matters of special planetary needs, in particular regarding the worlds of their creature sojourn and still more concerning the realm of terminal bestowal, the planet of incarnation in the likeness of mortal flesh. [UB 21:5.9]
A notable inconsistency in Mr. McMullan’s adherence to law is that he has sought permission from the Saint Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art in Scotland to use the painting, Christ of St. John of the Cross, by Salvador Dali, but has not sought permission from Urantia Foundation to reproduce text from The Urantia Book. He has also taken care to copyright the accompanying index to his book as well as the volume arrangement and cover design.
Sources close to Mr. McMullan inform us that he would invite a lawsuit from the Foundation, and that he would expend millions of his personal fortune to break the Foundation’s ownership of the copyright in Part IV-and thereby drive Part IV of The Urantia Book into the public domain. He has expressed to readers his determination to destroy Urantia Foundation. Mr. McMullan is the owner and chairman of Alliance Steel Company.
If you agree with our position, please consider doing the following:
- Employ the Jesus grievance procedure. Inform Mr. McMullan that you disapprove of what he has done, that you disapprove of his breaking the law, that you disapprove of his breaking up the book, and that you support the Foundation’s ownership of the copyright.
- Inform the General Council of the Fellowship and its Society leaders that you think they should take a strong position in opposition to Mr. McMullan’s breaking the law, and that they should take a strong position in support of the Foundation 's ownership of the copyright and marks and in opposition to anyone’s infringing the copyright. (Article II, headed “Purpose” of The Fellowship’s constitution states: “… through the medium of fraternal organization, ever obedient and subservient to the laws of this country and of all countries wherein The Fellowship may extend.”)
- Discourage people from buying this illegal, unauthorized, and partial presentation of the fifth epochal revelation.
¶ Unauthorized Translations
Urantia Foundation has been working for more than six years on a quality Korean translation. This translation has been completed and was recently introduced at the Seoul International Book Fair.
In addition to the team of translators which has been working cooperatively with the Foundation on this Korean translation, there was, for several years, another Korean translation effort, sponsored by the New York Society of the Fellowship. However, after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Foundation’s copyright in The Urantia Book to be valid, a Trustee was assured by a leader of the Fellowship and the Society in question, that the New York Society was no longer pursuing either a Korean or a Russian translation. The Trustees and staff of Urantia Foundation were pleased and hopeful upon receiving this news.
The Russian translation was completed in 1997. To date over one thousand copies have been sold or given to grateful students in countries under the former Soviet domination.
A few weeks ago a representative of the New York Society of the Fellowship caned one of the Trustees of the Foundation, soliciting him personally for financial contributions for their Korean and Russian translations. We found this to be curious, and upon further investigation, it was confirmed by a Fellowship officer, a member of the New York Society, that the translating activity had never stopped.
It is argued by some that alternate translation efforts, which are not authorized by Urantia Foundation, are justified because they fall into the category of secondary works, thereby assisting readers in their study of the book. We disagree. The Foundation’s translation policies have been carefully constructed whereby a system of checks and balances has evolved, which, we believe, results in the best possible translations.
The Foundation endeavors, in cooperation with qualified translators, to ensure that true and beautiful translations, in the highest possible language of the culture, are done and delivered to truth seekers around the world. Anyone wishing to assist in the translation project is considered, but the text is never made public until it has been carefully reviewed and finally approved. We do not wish to deliver a partial, incomplete version of the fifth epochal revelation to the public. Duplication of translations are both unnecessary and unwise. It would be irresponsible and unfair to our non-English speaking brothers and sisters to inflict confusion upon their study groups by giving them different texts to study.
In 1997, after the Foundation’s ownership of the copyright was validated by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, representatives of the Fellowship’s leadership made the following proposal:
- Urantia Foundation shall not sue the Fellowship for damages in connection with the Fellowship’s having published The Urantia Book. (The Foundation could possibly have sought damages for as much as $150,000.)
- Urantia Foundation shall allow the Fellowship to keep half of their unsold books (stickers with the Foundation’s name and address to be placed over the Fellowship’s name and address).
- The Fellowship shall make a $10,000 contribution to the Foundation’s Translation Fund.
The Trustees agreed to all of these proposals, adding that the Fellowship could keep all of its unsold books and do with them whatever they pleased, provided that the books not be sold and not have the Foundation’s name in them.
In return, the Trustees asked for one thing. They requested that the Fellowship act cooperatively with, or at least not antagonistically toward, the Foundation. Specifically, the Trustees requested that the leadership of the Fellowship not publicly speak disparagingly about the Foundation, the Trustees, the Foundation staff, or the leadership of the International Urantia Association. The representatives of the Fellowship’s leadership agreed to the Trustees’ request. Has the Fellowship kept its agreement? You be the judge.
- One or more of the Fellowship’s affiliate Societies, or one or more of its members are currently sponsoring translations into Spanish, Portuguese, German, Serbo-Croatian, Russian, and Korean. Except for the Serbo-Croatian translation, all of these translations have either been published by the Foundation, will soon be published, or will be published in a few years.
- The Fellowship has illegally displayed portions of the above translations on its website, notwithstanding that the Foundation has of fered to license the Fellowship to display the Foundation’s translations on its website. Such unauthorized display of unauthorized translations (or authorized translations) is illegal. It is an infringement of the Foundation’s copyright in The Urantia Book.
- Mr. Harry McMullan III, a General Councilor, a member of the Fellowship’s Executive Committee as well as its Treasurer, and the owner and chairman of Alliance Steel Company, published Part IV of The Urantia Book. One of the Trustees, an old and dear friend of Mr. McMullan’s, as well as other individuals, repeatedly appealed to Mr: McMullan not to pursue this illegal and unauthorized publication. Sources close to Mr. McMullan infonn us that he would invite a lawsuit from the Foundation, and that he would expend millions of his personal fortune to break the Foundation’s ownership of the copyright in Part IV-and thereby drive Part IV of The Urantia Book into the public domain.
Have the leaders of the Fellowship kept their agreement with the Foundation to act cooperatively with, or at least not antagonistically toward, the Foundation? Have they kept their agreement not to speak publicly disparagingly about the Foundation? Is the leadership of the Fellowship or are certain leaders of the Fellowship breaking the law? The Fellowship and every Fellowship Society pledges “obedience and subservience to the laws of this country and all countries wherein they extend.”
We have reason to believe that there has been a well planned strategy among certain members of the Fellowship, some of whom are on the General Council and Executive Committee, to entice Urantia Foundation back into court with another copyright challenge. Apart from Mr. McMullan’s repeated statements that he would invite a lawsuit from the Foundation in an effort to break the Foundation’s ownership of the copyright in Part IV, he has printed, in the front of his illegal publication of Part IV of The Urantia Book, the following: “All proceeds from book sales are dedicated to the continued availability of this work in Engiish and, as soon as possible, other languages.” (our emphasis.) This indicates that the continuation of work on unauthorized translations by other Fellowship related people or groups is with the expectation that the Foundation will lose its copyright. This is quite disturbing in the light of recent attempts to bring unity and cooperation back into the Urantia community.
May we all follow the Master’s example, which the book describes on paragraph 140:8.9:
In his personal life he was always duly observant of all civil laws and regulations … [UB 140:8.9]
And then there are the Master’s never-to-beforgotten words:
“Render to Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and to God the things which are God’s.” [UB 133:4.3]
We ask that you join us to bring unity and stabilization to the movement. We ask that you join us to end conflicts within the movement by encouraging all readers to obey the law. We desire that all of us may focus on dissemination, not on litigation. Here’s what you can do:
- Inform the General Council of the Fellowship and the governing boards of its Societies that you think they should take a strong position in opposition to unauthorized translations and publications of The Urantia Book or parts of The Urantia Book. Infonn leaders of the Fellowship to refrain from enabling or encouraging their fellow leaders in engaging in these unlawful acts.
- Discourage people from buying illegal and unauthorized translations of The Urantia Book.
- Refuse to contribute money to any translation not sponsored by the Urantia Foundation.
- Contribute money to translations sponsored by the Urantia Foundation.
¶ The Urantia Book Hits St. Petersburg
Report from Seppo Kanerva
On 21 June 1999 a number of helpful reader activists assisted the staff of Urantia Foundation’s Helsinki office in carrying 900 Russian Urantia Books from the basement storage room up on pallets, which a couple of hours later were picked up by a trailer lorry bound for St. Petersburg, Russia. A week later, on 28 June, the books were, after last minute panicky telephone calls and fax messages, finally cleared out from the Customs House to their lawful recipient and for the Russian book market.
The Russian translation of The Urantia Book was published in March 1997 but it soon became evident that the distribution of the book in Russia would be a very tortuous business. The Foundation participated in the Moscow International Book Fair in September 1997 which gave an opportunity to get 500 copies into Russia and to the avid Russian readers. Before and after that the distribution has happened almost haphazardly from the Helsinki office, with occasional visitors taking five or ten copies and carrying them in their luggage across the border. This kind of an arrangement, of course, is no permanent solution to the distribution problems. The Foundation representative in Moscow, Natalya Shidlovskaya worked very hard on this problem. She had everything ready; the complex paperwork was almost done, a company entitled to import books had been formed, the necessary foreign currency bank account had been opened, and then the Russian bank crisis smashed this prospect altogether and at one stroke in late August 1998. Natalya’s bank went bankrupt, she lost all her personal money and the Foundation money along with hers. The focus shifted from Moscow to St. Petersburg.
Before the crowning and lucky episode of 28 June, a lot had happened in the course of about a year of concerted efforts by Vitaly G. Kondratyev, the Chicago office, the Foundation lawyers, and the Foundation’s Moscow and Helsinki offices. The person who finally, thanks to his persistency and indomitable detennination, made all this happen is Vitaly Gennadevich Kondratyev of St. Petersburg. He knew which Russian authorities to accost and where to go for advice and information. He drafted and translated the many indispensable, but long and complex, documents and contracts, and he put almost all of his time into this project. He founded a separate limited company for book imports and distribution, had the company registered with the Russian authorities, applied for and was granted a tax-free status for the books, and took good care of every minute detail. One of the Foundation Trustees said that this exploit would entitle us to toast a glass of champagne with Vitaly. Concurrently with the Russian books arriving in St. Petersburg, Vitaly and his helpers were involved in another related event: The new distribution company attended, for the first time, the book fair in St. Petersburg-the St. Petersburg Book Salon, 23 through 25 June. Vitaly reports that this event too was a great success!
¶ IUAs Invited to Fellowship Society Conclave
On behalf of the societies ofthe Fellowship, the Chicago First Society issued an invitation to the International Urantia Associations to participate with them in the first society Conclave since the 80’s. The Conclave is to occur on Saturday, August 7, 1999, the day before the Fellowship Conference begins in Vancouver, Canada.
This is a very positive gesture of cooperation and goodwill from the grassroots and many members of the IUA appreciate the spirit of friendship and brotherhood this represents.
Some Of the issues to be investigated include:
- How do we make our groups stronger?
- How can we better do outreach activities?
- Whatcan we do to improve the quality of education and study of The Urantia Book in our areas?
A report will be forthcoming in the next issue of Newsflash.
¶ New Urantia Association in Estonia
The Urantia Association of Estonia will be formally licensed on August 20, 1999 in Karepa. This is a local association, with 20 members. Peep Sõber will be the pro-tem President.
There are currently over 100 Urantia Book readers in Estonia, some of whom began studying during the Russian occupation. The KGB allowed these devoted brothers and sisters to meet because there is no Urantia church:
Many of the people joining IUA participated in the Tallin “Singing War” of 1989 which resulted in Estonia’s freedom from Russian domination.
We are surely blessed to have them as a part of our worldwide family of Urantia Book readers.
¶ Texas IDA Meeting a Great Success!
Some of the Trustees of Urantia Foundation, the Executive Director, and the IUA Administrator were invited to meet with readers in Euless, Texas at a gathering of readers of The Urantia Book sponsored by The Lone Star Urantia Association in June.
The following is taken from a report given by Rick Warren from the Lone Star Association.
Estimates put attendance close to seventy at the annual Lone Star IUA meeting June 26 in Euless. Texas. A great debt of gratitude is owed the Wardfamily for hosting the event. They hustled before. during. and after so the rest us could visit and strengthen bonds in the Urantia community. We were graced with the presence of readers from all over the nation. Members from the Oklahoma reader groups were present as well as Urantia Foundation Trustees. Richard Keeler and Gard Jameson, Executive Director, Tonia Baney, and the IUA Administrator, Cathy Jones. Bruce Brown, our president, lead with an excellent presentation on the purpose and progress of the Texan Lone Star Urantia Association. Richard Keeler spoke about some of the Trustees’ global adventures in relation to dissemination activities. Gard Jameson, who is new to many of us, quickly won us over with his charming warmth as he related stories of amazing service and devotion from readers of all stripes. Tonia Baney spoke passionately about the progress of the book and the opportunitiesfor service. Cathy Jones then fielded questions about the nature and purpose of the IUA.
David Linthicum, the Vice President of the Spirit of Oklahoma Urantia Association also attended and reports:
I just wanted to write this note and thank my Red River cousins for the wonderful time that was had by all of us “Okies” who visited the Texas IUA meeting in Euless, Texas this past June 26th The meeting was great and the Bar-B-Q was even better! Those Texans put on quite a spread with heaping servings of good cheer and brotherhood. Our special thanks go out to Suzanne Kelly Ward for the invitation and excellent directions to the clubhouse where the meeting was held… thanks to the Texas IUA group and their President, Bruce Brown, who put on such a fantastic event. We hope to return the favor in the near future.
¶ New Products
Urantia Foundation has produced a limited range of new products which display the Foundation’s logo—the Concentric-CircIes Symbol and the word “URANTIA”. The reason for this is to provide for a diversity of personal use of the symbols for Urantia Book readers, for whom these symbols have meaning.
The limited range of products include pens, glass mugs, caps, and golf shirts and will be mainly available for sale at conferences.