© 1990 William Wentworth
© 1990 ANZURA, Australia & New Zealand Urantia Association
| From E.T. To E-3 Keeping An Open Mind On The Matter | Vol 11 No 4 July 1990 — Index | The Vagaries Of Proof — A Reply To Tony Rudd |
The International Conference of the Fifth Epochal Fellowship (formerly URANTIA Brotherhood) was held at Snowmass, Colorado, USA, from 30th June to 5th July. Five Australians and one New Zealander were among more than 1,000 attendees of a well organised and stimulating five days of presentations, workshops, entertainment and socialising. This was the second conference at Snowmass, the first being in 1981, and the facilities were superb.
Each day began with a session which included the entire conference, followed by a break-up into smaller groups for morning and afternoon workshops. Meals were taken communally under a huge tarpaulin erected on the roof of the conference building. There was a large variety of activities and entertainments to choose from, including riding, cycling, white-water rafting, shopping excursions, sightseeing excursions and mountain walks, while evening activities included music and dancing at “Club U.B.”, a concert at which John Denver sang, and a performance of “The Power Within”, a musical created by readers in Oklahoma City, and in particular Susan Wright Aldridge and Larry Mullens. An evening of square dancing was also arranged.
The nationalities represented, apart from USA were Australia, Canada, Estonia, France, Finland, New Zealand, South Africa, Switzerland and Tahiti. The Canadian contingent was by far the largest, but Australians who attended the Robertson conference in 1988 will remember Dexter and Brigitte Cave from Tahiti, and Urs and Nicole Ruchti from Switzerland. Urs delighted the entire conference with a program of Chopin played on a somewhat superior piano to the one he had to use at Robertson. Musical interludes occurred frequently throughout the conference, and the quality was high, particular some of the choral arrangements.
Workshops varied enormously, and one person could attend only a small proportion of the offering. Because of the great variety it is quite impossible for me to categorise them in any accurate way. Suffice it to say that there were many conducted at a very high level, and a great many diverse points of view received attention. Because of the large contingent from Canada, several of the presentations were made by Canadians, most notably those connected with the newly chartered Couchiching URANTIA Society of Ontario. In fact, I would estimate that the Americans have made considerable progress in internationalising the revelation since the Maine Conference in 1987.
There continues to be a remarkable interest in Australia, and the chartering of societies in Finland and Canada in the last couple of years has definitely focused the attention of Americans on non-American readers of the book.
Although the organisers of the conference did not wish to emphasise the consequences of the rift with URANTIA Foundation, clearly these matters were uppermost in the minds of many who attended the conference. I spoke to as many people as I could about it to try to ascertain what the general view was. I also spoke at length with some of the office holders of the Fifth Epochal Fellowship, and was granted an interview by the President of URANTIA Foundation in Chicago before the conference.
There is no doubt in my mind that the problems are real. They have a long history extending back 15 or so years, and the fact that wishful thinking and poor judgement postponed their early correction has compounded the difficulties to the extent that a total break between the two organizations was inevitable. There have been mistakes on both sides. However, I must make it clear that in my judgement the motives of the leading office holders of Fifth Epochal Fellowship remain unsullied. I am unable to detect in them the power hunger, the meanness of spirit or the malice of which they have been accused. They have made mistakes, and they admit it. But it is also my judgement that the URANTIA Foundation is no longer prepared to co-operate with the Fifth Epochal Fellowship, which can thus no longer be regarded as simply the URANTIA Brotherhood under a new name. Indeed, the President of URANTIA Foundation made it clear to me that he would not co-operate with anyone who retained close ties with the Fifth Epochal Fellowship, although he did concede that the whole question was really an American affair, and that non-Americans really have no part to play.
My recommendation is that we Australians should keep out of it, refrain from taking sides, and allow time to settle the issue. We have no real constructive role to play. Formal affiliations are clearly not appropriate under the current state of affairs. We have plenty to do in extending the readership, encouraging study group formation and sustaining our own growth. The Americans will sort out their own difficulties in due course.
The president of URANTIA Foundation has agreed to look into our problems of book distribution and new readership referral, and mentioned that he had plans in place to address both issues. However, he refused to provide me with details, so I am unable to pass on to Australian readers anything of substance in these areas.
On the whole, I have had an instructive, and at times astonishing, visit with American readers. I remain hopeful that Australian readers can avoid becoming embroiled in the American organizational troubles. I am impressed with the progress made by American readers in their recognition and understanding of non-American students of the book. And I conclude that the Fifth Epochal Revelation continues to expand and fulfil its mission in spite of the follies and frailties of the humans entrusted with it.
William Wentworth
Towamba, NSW
| From E.T. To E-3 Keeping An Open Mind On The Matter | Vol 11 No 4 July 1990 — Index | The Vagaries Of Proof — A Reply To Tony Rudd |