Harry McMullan

Many readers have tried in past years to dissuade you from printing Part IV of The Urantia Book. The General Council of the Fellowship wisely rejected to do the same in 1996. Now groups of readers from around the world have, and are planning to, circulate petitions asking you to cease your efforts to distribute or give away Jesus—A New Revelation, which is Part IV of The Urantia Book, minus the first paper.

We know from Eve’s folly that one’s own personal plans for improving mankind can miscarry and retard, instead of stimulate, growth.

Every epochal revelation has been part of a plan and its purveyors have been given “instructions.” This fifth epochal revelation came with the Declaration of Trust, which tells us to keep the text inviolate in all media, and to disseminate the teachings and doctrines to the world. It does not sanction splitting up the book, printing parts of the book separately, or printing, as you have done, Part IV of the book without Paper 120, “The Bestowal of Michael on Urantia.”

Persons from all quarters of the Urantia community, in addition to Urantia Foundation and at least one Trustee, have pleaded with you to cease your action, and we now do so again.

We are sad that you chose to Print Jesus—A New Revelation, and that you chose to disregard the Foundation’s copyright in The Urantia Book. Also, we are troubled that in the front of your publication of part of The Urantia Book, you indicate you intend to translate it into other languages.

From your recent “open letter” to us, it is clear that you believe you will prevail in court if the Foundation pursues a claim against you for copyright infringement. We urge you to consider the following:

1. The decision in the Maaherra case is the law.

2. Judge Schroeder is a well-known and well-respected judge.

3. The historical documents and living members of the Forum agree that some human creativity was associated with the formation of the text of the book.

4. Some level of creativity is all that is required for a work to surpass the extremely low threshold of copyrightability. As Dr. Sadler said, “No questions, no papers.”

We know that your attorneys objected, in the Fellowship’s amicus brief, on very technical grounds to some of the documentary evidence.

The real question is whether your decision to reproduce, as a separate work, the final 76 Papers of The Urantia Book constitutes an infringement of the copyright. We believe that, after a careful review of the applicable defenses you may articulate, you have infringed the copyright by copying such a substantial portion of the book without engaging in any transformative use of the quoted material.

Litigation is, as we have learned, an expensive mechanism to resolve disputes and effect justice. “The Master, when on earth, admonished his followers that justice is never a personal act; it is always a group function. Neither do the Gods, as persons, administer justice. But they perform this very function as a collective whole, as the Paradise Trinity.” (The Urantia Book p. 1146 par.1)

It is our considered opinion that you have infringed the Foundation’s copyright and thereby broken the law.

We, the Trustees, have taken a solemn oath (which we also regard as sacred) to preserve, protect, and defend The Urantia Book as those duties are assigned to us by the Declaration of Trust. We are as resolved to do our duty as, it appears, you are resolved to purvey your publication—without our authorization or the support even of your organization, the Fellowship.

As is customary, until we reach Havona, courts are one means to resolve disputes between imperfect creatures. Since you and we, as representatives of the Foundation, cannot agree, we may have no choice but to ask the court to settle our disagreements and to effect justice, according to the rules of law. As the book states:

If one man craves free—liberty—he must remember that all other men long for the same freedom… Freedom is the gift of civilization made possible by the enforcement of LAW. (p.1490, par.4)

He [Jesus] taught them not to resist evil, not to combat injustice or injury, but he did not teach passive tolerance of wrongdoing. And he made it plain on this afternoon that he approved of the social punishment of evildoers and criminals, and that the civil government must sometimes employ force for the maintenance of social order and in the execution of justice. (p.1579, par 6)

“… it has been committed to your hands that you should maintain temporal order in the kingdom on earth … Although you cannot determine the eternal fate of the individual you may legislate regarding the conduct of the group, …” (p. 1763, par.0)

We prefer to resolve this matter without going to court. If there is something that you believe we are overlooking, we would appreciate hearing from you about it and would welcome discussing it with you.

Is there a possibility that we could convince you to stop distributing your publication of part of The Urantia Book and to put your energies into working with us? Together we could present a unified front to those individuals, cultures, and countries that are not yet familiar with The Urantia Book.

Printing and distributing Part IV of The Urantia Book may result in immediate results, but we have reason to believe that in the long term, patience will reap a more plentiful harvest.