International Fellowship Committee
August 2001

The committee has been very busy over the past year, particularly in the Latin American effort.  Lila Dogim continues her work with the checking of the Russian translation.  She and Avi, along with several other readers, will be making a trip to Russia later this year to meet with Russian readers. 

Rosey Lieske, Susan Ransbottom, and Agustin Arellano have been tireless workers on Latin American issues over the past year and I am very grateful to them for their sacrifices and their accomplishments.  Without the incredible amount of work being done by these three readers, the Latin American explosion would not likely be happening.

Last year it was decided that the Fellowship would not hire a Spanish reader services coordinator.  This did not make the work disappear.  In fact, the work has increased tremendously.  The current approach is one of triage and a lot of important work is not being done simply because we don't have the staffing or the financial resources to handle the demand.  In some cases revelation workers are of necessity financing their outreach efforts from their own limited resources.  Our organization should be able to better support its key workers and indeed must do so if we are to realize any significant growth in our ability to foster the development of the emerging readership.

The second week in April we participated in the first National Conference in Mexico.  Fellowship members and societies contributed a total of $2,310.00 which purchased 14 scholarships for readers who would otherwise not have been able to attend.  The conference was well attended and was a significant event for the Mexican readership.  Urantia Foundation sent representatives who collected names and addresses and then later sent letters to attendees seeking support of Urantia Foundation's political agenda.

The International Fellowship Committee also contributed money to two scholarships offered by Sue and Derrick Tenant for readers from Mexico to attend a leadership training seminar at the Silver Springs retreat center. An additional 11 scholarships were provided for readers in Colombia to attend the upcoming Reader Congress in Bogotá.

Foundation issues

The International Fellowship Committee has desired to foster the growth and development of independent reader groups around the world.  It has been felt that the strongest international social organization will result from regional groups which have their own economic and political structures but which collaborate with each other on issues of mutual concern and interact socially.  To this end the committee has worked to identify emerging leaders in various countries.  Communication is established with these readers and when possible we have worked to facilitate their coming together at regional conferences.  The thinking behind this is that we can foster the growth of these groups and of international networks of revelation workers by making it possible for regional leaders to meet and establish working relationships with each other.

There have been troublesome problems with Urantia Foundation exploiting regional meetings and conferences for aggressive recruiting and propaganda efforts.  There is a combination of direct harrassment of individuals who choose to remain independent along with continual enticements to support the Foundation's political program.  Needless to say, this creates a very difficult situation for honest and sincere revelation workers in other countries who, because of differences in culture and language, are unable to fully  understand the issues involved.

Translations

A number of translations are in process of development, some of which should be ready for printing within the next year or so. At least four are in the final editing stage.  It is urgent that the Fellowship provide some sort of legal support for readers doing this work so that they have something with which to counter the threats, intimidation and harrassment received from Urantia Foundation once the Foundation discovers work in progress which they do not control.  At minimum, this should take the form of a statement regarding the copyright status and the implications for publication of translations.  If the Fellowship cannot provide direct legal help, we should at least provide background information on the status of the U.S. copyright and any other information which would facilitate the acquiring of sound legal opinions within the countries in which publication will take place. 

Book Distribution

Over the past year committee funds have been used to provide approximately 200 Spanish books to readers in Latin America.  This is in addition to the nearly 1,000 books distributed by Guetza, the Mexican reader organization.

The weekend of June 29 Urantia Foundation held a meeting in Chicago to discuss issues related to the Spanish translation.  The Foundation flew in key readers from various Latin American countries, in many cases leadership people who had been identified by the Fellowship.  The meeting also was a very well orchestrated recruitment effort.

There is a great deal of indignation among Spanish readers with the poor quality of the Foundation's translation -- both of the translation itself as well as the lack of careful proof reading.  Because of internal political problems with Georges, Seppo and their Spanish translator in Spain (who does not know English but is using George's French translation as the source document), the Foundation initially stated that it would produce two Spanish translations, one for readers in Spain, and one for readers in Latin America.    The attendees at the Foundation's meeting were unanimous in their desire to have only one high quality translation.  A petition was delivered to the trustees who said they would produce only one translation.  However, by the next morning Seppo was backstepping, saying that they would do this "if it turned out to be possible."  The attendees were told that they would be informed in several months of the Foundation's course of action. 

Other problems

It is difficult for us to publicize readership events or to acknowledge the work of regional leaders in Latin America because the Foundation picks this up and then approaches these leaders or groups with high-pressure recruitment tactics.  In some cases these consist of legal threats and intimidation leveled at readers who wish to remain independent from North American political organizations.  The Foundation recently got a copy of Agustin's mailing list (by less than ethical means) of readers in Mexico.  This was followed by Bob Solone making personal phone calls to persons on the list, seeking to inform them about the revelator's plans for Urantia Foundation to control the revelation, and seeking their support for the Foundation's political agenda (as well as rejection of any efforts to establish independent reader groups in Mexico -- "independent" being related to "rebellious" in a Caligastian sense.)

The problem is compounded by the fact that the Foundation selects as representatives individuals who pledge to support the Foundation politically.  In nearly all cases these have been new readers who have had no previous experience with The Urantia Book and no experience with study groups.  In several cases these individuals are seriously lacking in basic social skills.  So the harrassment becomes very aggressive and these individuals become psychologically consumed in their newly bestowed social identities as protectors of an epochal revelation, representatives of a powerful American organization.  These individuals are doing a great deal of damage -- including some serious damage to Urantia Foundation's reputation.  Unfortunately, and loaded with serious long-term problems, is the fact that the Foundation's approach -- the revelation must be protected from the riff-raff -- is mapping religious conflict over existing class divisions in Latin America.  The long term social problems potential in this unfortunate situation should not be underestimated.  

However, the revelation speaks for itself and by far the greatest majority of readers seem to be far more interested in the spiritual work of the revelation as contrasted with the politcial objectives of Urantia Foundation.

The Foundation's representative to Argentina told us this past year that the Foundation's objective in Latin America is simply to leave the Fellowship with no supporters. 

There are tremendous opportunities in Africa for readership development but we are utterly lacking in staff to handle the potentials which exist there.  Norman Ingram has done a good job of establishing a base of readers.  We need to foster this base through facilitating communication and regional conferences the same we we're doing in Latin America.  We need money and people who will be dedicated to this task, preferably people who are fluent in French. 

Affiliates

There are at present three major groups in Latin America who are seeking formal affiliation with the Fellowship.  Charter needs to aggressively work on this and to communicate with these folks in a timely manner.  In two cases these are groups who are being pounded by Urantia Foundation and they are hopeful that by establishing a formal affiliation with the Fellowship, the Foundation will leave them alone.

Immediate needs

The committee is soliciting funds to provide scholarships for IC02.  This is felt to be  extremely important in that attending such a conference provides an opportunity for serious revelation workers to meet each other, to experience a larger community of readers, and to establish the kind of working realationships with other revelation workers which will facilitate the spread of the revelation in other parts of the world.  I know of no other area in which an investment of funds holds such great potential for returns in terms of solid gains for the presence of the revelation in our world.  We have received a $10,000 contribution to be used as a matching fund for this purpose.  Our goal is to have $20,000 available by the end of this year to use for international scholarships to IC02.   Please help us with this effort by contributing what you can and by making other readers aware of this opportunity.

There is much more going on in the work of this committee -- this has been a brief overview.  Our greatest strength is the enthusiasm and dedication of a network of revelation workers developing across many countries.  Our greatest problem is the continuous assault by Urantia Foundation on any revelation work which they do not control, and their persecution of evangelists of the kingdom who do not agree to support their political agenda.  Our greatest need is for dedicated bilingual workers.

Such a life on such a planet!

Respectfully submitted by David Kantor for the International Fellowship Committee

Susan Ransbottom
Lila Dogim
Rosey Lieske
Adrienne Jarnagin
Stephanie Shaeffer