September 30, 2000
Dear Friends;
This is to let you know that I have been served with a subpoena by Urantia Foundation in the matter of Urantia Foundation v Michael Foundation, Inc., demanding that I turn over my entire historic archive of Urantian materials which has formed the basis for much of the website. The full content of the subpoena may be read at http://urantia-book.org/archive/history/kantor_subpoena.htm
The commentary below which I'm submitting for your consideration represents only my personal opinion and not that of anyone else or any organization in which I participate.
In the subpoena which I received, Urantia Foundation is demanding, among many other things, "information in any recorded form, such as tape recordings, CD-roms, computer diskettes, electronic mail, written correspondence and memoranda which evidences, refers or relates to the origin, creation and publication of any of the Urantia Papers, or The Urantia Book." The subpoena specifically mentions all tape recorded speeches or lectures of William Sadler, Jr. This amounts to hundreds of paper documents, some 130 hours of Sadler recordings, and some 270 hours of video tape of Urantian events stretching back many years. The subpoena also asks for any memoranda in my possession which shows usage of the word "Urantia" or "Urantian" prior to their registrations as trademarks by Urantia Foundation. I will then be required to submit to a formal interrogation by the Foundation's attorneys regarding these materials.
This follows the Foundation's complaint that the Fellowship website contains "information not in support of the trustees" and their demand of the Fellowship that the text of The Urantia Book and its translations, as well as the Fellowship's use of the word "Urantia" in its web address, be removed from the website by October 1. For more than a year, the trustees have refused to meet with the Fellowship Executive Committee to discuss this and other matters, instead referring concerned Fellowship leaders to members of the Foundation's office staff and inner circle of supporters.
Although the Fellowship has provided the text of The Urantia Book on its website for many years, the event which triggered the current harrassment was Msr. Dupont's taking of insult over the fact that the Fellowship had the gall (no pun intended) to publish the French translation on a North American website. All of this harrassment about the Fellowship's website can be traced to Msr. Dupont's use of his legal prerogatives as a trustee to attempt the redress of his personal indignation. An ironic aspect of this is that I published the French translation following a period of time when the French readers had failed to get a response from the Foundation to their request that the French edition be published on the web. Finally, one of the IUA leaders from Quebec contacted me and asked if I could help. Working in conjunction with this IUA leader we were able to make the French text available to Internet users worldwide via the Fellowship website.
One might wonder why these materials are being subpoenaed, particularly in light of the fact that I am not a party to any of Urantia Foundation's current litigation. Insight into this matter might be derived from an expanded review of the current context in which this is taking place.
Over the past couple of years in North America, the readers have seen a string of public relations pieces produced by Urantia Foundation which attempt to portray the Foundation's continued harrassment of revelation workers as simply the fulfillment of their responsiblity under the Declaration of Trust. This theme has been echoed in the public appearances of the trustees in many North American cities.
Last year Tonia Baney sent out a letter to the international readership implying that the Fellowship was somehow responsible for Harry McMullan's publication of "Jesus-A New Revelation." In this letter she asked readers to write letters of protest to the Fellowship. In terms of fostering healthy social infrastructure internationally, this was perhaps the single most destructive event in readership history. It turned brother against brother, planted deep-seated hostility throughout Latin America, and signaled the international exportation of the same social dysfunctionality with which Urantia Foundation has burdened the readership in North America during the past few decades. And this was done in spite of the fact that the Fellowship's General Council had taken a well-publicized vote not to support the separate publication of Part IV.
Some months ago when a reader from Mexico was teaching an introductory class to new readers in Ecuador, Bob Solone actually phoned the hostess in whose home the meeting was taking place -- while the meeting was in progress -- and demanded to know who had authorized this person to talk to them about The Urantia Book. I cannot provide you with reports on the exciting activities of a whole array of dedicated readers in Latin America engaged in outreach efforts because Foundation agents take those names from our publications and then call and harrass those people, telling them that if they don't renounce the Fellowship and sign a statement of support for Urantia Foundation, they are aiding the rebels who are working for Caligastia to thwart the success of the revelation.
Earlier this year a very competent Latin American leader undertook an 8 week missionary trip through many Latin American countries, speaking to study groups, starting new groups and doing media interviews. While he was gone, virtually everyone in his home group was contacted by Urantia Foundation and urged to abandon their affiliation with the independent group and become loyal to the Foundation. Needless to say, none of them abandoned their commitments.
In general, most independent readers are happy to work with Foundation supporters, but they don't want to be required to sign up for formal affiliation as a condition of working together. One of the most dedicated and skillful readers in Latin America recently had a conference with Urantia Foundation in which he was urged to "leave the rebels" and work with the Foundation. In this conference, the Foundation representative referred to all Fellowship supporters as "demons," "rebels in league with Caligastia," etc. This Foundation representative went on to say that the Foundation's agenda was simply "to leave the Fellowship with no members."
This is not an isolated incident, nor is it merely the work of a single misguided Foundation representative. Prior to our meeting in Chile in August, a Foundation representative (Gustavo Proano) contacted individuals from Ecuador and Peru and warned them not to have anything to do with one of the conference presenters because he "puts strange ideas into people's heads." I know this particular Foundation representative personally -- well enough to know that this didn't come from him -- it is straight from Bob Solone and the Chicago office. I have had conversations (personal and email) with four of the Foundation's representatives in various Latin American countries. When I have questioned them about what they are doing, each one of them assured me that what they were doing was correct because they always check everything with Bob Solone first.
When I was in Brazil earlier this year, Urantia Foundation sent two of their representatives to the meeting to report back to them on my activities. One of them told me he had been instructed by Georges Dupont to follow me around and send him the names and addresses of anyone with whom I had a conversation. One of the Foundation's translators, chiding me for supporting translations being undertaken by independent readers, told me with a look of pride how President Keeler had told him that the midwayers had specially selected him to create the translation while he was still a child, had protected him during his life, and had led him to contact Urantia Foundation.
Following the Brazilian conference, Urantia Foundation went through the list of attendees and contacted as many as possible, giving them the story about the rebels at the Fellowship and the need to support Urantia Foundation if they were going to be loyal to the plans of the revelators.
This new cult about The Urantia Book and its trustees is being propagated internationally by a well-financed organization whose self-serving actions appear to be utterly lacking in social insight, moral integrity or religious wisdom. If we allow this to continue to happen without trying to provide a more cosmically real alternative -- an approach to spiritual socialization more consistent with the teachings of the revelation -- we will be abdicating a significant cosmic responsibility and allowing the Urantia revelation to become integrated with planetary religious culture on the basis of some of the lowest values of religious socialization present in our world -- an authoritarian religion which confers special powers on a self-selected priesthood, which in turn bestows special social status, identity and privileges upon their loyal supporters. If you have any doubts about this evaluation, consider the religious naiveté of trustee Georges Dupont's history of Urantia Foundation at: http://urantia-book.org/archive/readers/doc787.htm in which he creates a parallel between the trustees and the twelve apostles
At present, the growing impression in Latin America regarding the North American reader conflicts is that there are two groups; one which believes that the fifth epochal revelation is completely contained within the pages of The Urantia Book, and another group which believes that the declaration of trust, certain apocryphal documents, and the authority of the trustees of Urantia Foundation are an integral part of the fifth epochal revelation.
I have tried on several occassions to engage Gard or Mo in a discussion of these matters and they have just referred me to Tonia. When I have publically made mention of specific incidents, the Foundation's public relations machinery immediately spins it to create the appearance that nothing is wrong. Mo and Gard tell me in private conversations that they have been "marginalized" and have no power to change anything at 533, but they appear on stage in public to promote the Foundation's programs and their signatures appear on the lawsuits and the most transparently manipulative public relations statements produced by Tonia Baney. It is interesting to note in this regard that Jesus was never willing to consort with evil in hopes that the worship of God might be derived therefrom.
If you care about the quality of the initial socialization of this revelation, it is important to look more closely at this situation -- you have a cosmic duty here; this is happening on your watch! Don't just step to the side because you don't want to get your hands dirty. This is difficult work and you ignore it at the risk of leaving the planet with a religious heritage further debased than that which already exists. This revelation should be integrated with the highest religious and spiritual ideals currently functional on the planet, not the lowest.
My best information leads me to believe that there is serious conflict within the trustee and office staff structure of the Foundation. Indeed, there are indications that the reason the trustees have refused to meet with the Executive Committe is because Tonia knows that they couldn't hold together a united front against the Fellowship in such a meeting. Richard Keeler and Tonia Baney appear to be working very hard to find a way of removing Mo Siegel from the board of trustees. It appears to me that Foundation policy is being driven by the public relations machinations of Tonia Baney, the money of Richard Keeler and the naive religious zealotry of Msr. Dupont.
Tonia's main objective appears to be that of keeping a wedge driven between the trustees which will prevent a solution to these matters which might be outside her control. The trustees themselves are at odds with each other and so dysfunctional as a social group that they are unable to establish and manage a more psycho-socially coherent and spiritually viable course of action, to say nothing of being unable to participate in a constructive meeting with the Fellowship's Executive Committee -- thus the abdication of responsibility to various proxies; hawkish inner-circle supporters, attorneys and public relations releases. A good example of the Foundation's public relations approach to problem solving can be seen in an internal document received by the Fellowship from the Foundation on September 12 of this year. This may be found on the web at: http://urantia-book.org/archive/history/foundation_letter091200.htm
The Foundation's politicization of Latin America is raging like a firestorm and next month Richard Keeler, Seppo Kanerva and Tonia Baney are going to Spain to hold a meeting with readers in Seville "to provide information on current events" and to "answer questions." I have a tape recording of President Keeler telling readers at such a session that the Fellowship took with them a half a million dollars when they "decided to move out of" 533 Diversey Parkway in 1989. I challenge President Keeler to either produce documentation of this accusation or to publically apologize for lying to readers who have no way of verifying his claims. You can read a partial transcript of the tape recording of his presentation on the website at: http://urantia-book.org/archive/history/keeler_overview.htm
When the Millennium Initiative Committe set forth a proposal for a working alliance between the IUA and the Fellowship, the Fellowship's General Council quickly ratified this proposal and sent a letter to IUA leadership indicating interest in pursuing such a plan. But the response from the IUA which came back from Seppo Kanerva said, "Copyright and mark preservation are the tickets to unity." Seppo went on to say,
"In my interpretation it means that The Fellowship has to pledge itself to a policy of law-abiding and copyright preservation. The Fellowship has to dissociate itself from the illegal printing of Part IV as a separate volume. The Fellowship has to remove Mr. Harry McMullan from its treasurership, from the General Council, and from the Executive Committee. Unless The Fellowship is ready to give these pledges I see no chance for any working alliance between the IUA and The Fellowship. In imitation of an old adage, I say: "No pledge -- no alliance."
"Some of you have suggested that the Millennium Initiative Committee reconvene. I am not supportive of this idea, and refuse to participate should such a meeting be called together. No Millennium Initiative talks will be capable of solving what needs to be solved. The solution is exclusively an internal affair of The Fellowship. The Fellowship leaders need to make the necessary conclusions and face the consequences."It has been made very clear that the Foundation's concept of "unity" means a readership united in support of the programs of the trustees. So how are we to deal with this? I have thought long and hard about this problem and have personally come to several conclusions. One of them is that the readership has grown to the point where it contains several rather well-defined communities of interpretation -- distinct groups of readers who share a common orientation to the meanings and values they find as a result of their study of the book. This situation will likely continue to develop as the book spreads internationally. Already there are a variety of groups in other countries which have adapted The Urantia Book to their local situation.
Sometimes a local teaching is associated with a charismatic teacher. Sometimes it is associated with a religious or fraternal group which has objectives other than the study of the book. We can constructively view Urantia Foundation and its supporters as simply one of these groups which has its own interpretative perspective on the revelation. In this light we should consider a comment from the Urmia lectures at [134:4.3].
"Only when one religion assumes that it is in some way superior to all others, and that it possesses exclusive authority over other religions, will such a religion presume to be intolerant of other religions or dare to persecute other religious believers. Religious peace--brotherhood--can never exist unless all religions are willing to completely divest themselves of all ecclesiastical authority and fully surrender all concept of spiritual sovereignty. God alone is spirit sovereign.
"You cannot have equality among religions (religious liberty) without having religious wars unless all religions consent to the transfer of all religious sovereignty to some superhuman level, to God himself. The kingdom of heaven in the hearts of men will create religious unity (not necessarily uniformity) because any and all religious groups composed of such religious believers will be free from all notions of ecclesiastical authority--religious sovereignty.
"God is spirit, and God gives a fragment of his spirit self to dwell in the heart of man. Spiritually, all men are equal. The kingdom of heaven is free from castes, classes, social levels, and economic groups. You are all brethren. But the moment you lose sight of the spirit sovereignty of God the Father, some one religion will begin to assert its superiority over other religions; and then, instead of peace on earth and good will among men, there will start dissensions, recriminations, even religious wars, at least wars among religionists."Freewill beings who regard themselves as equals, unless they mutually acknowledge themselves as subject to some supersovereignty, some authority over and above themselves, sooner or later are tempted to try out their ability to gain power and authority over other persons and groups. The concept of equality never brings peace except in the mutual recognition of some overcontrolling influence of supersovereignty."
This quote from The Urantia Book describes the situation with which we are confronted -- a very powerful, well-financed group of religionists who are attempting to assert social and religious sovereignty over all other groups. (It is interesting to note that the University of Colorado School of Law uses The Urantia Foundation and Scientology as examples of modern-day cults who use commercial law as a means of attempting to enforce ideological control over their adherents.) We have a revelation which places the highest value on interpersonal relationships, yet the trustees of Urantia Foundation continue to refuse to meet face-to-face with the fellow-believers they are harrassing with their legal and financial power.
Lastly, there is the matter of the Foundation's attempts to create an "official" history which will support their claims of authority over the readership and over all dissemination efforts. Tonia has been wanting to create such a history for quite some time and last year contacted a professional historian to help in the preparation of such a history. When the historian asked for access to Foundation files, Tonia refused and indicated that she would tell the historian the nature of the history which she wanted to have presented. Needless to say, this historian left the project immediately.
Urantia Foundation subsequently published a "commemorative history" in conjunction with their 50th anniversary this past March titled, "One Hundred Years of Revelation: A Historic Perspective." This was so transparently revisionist that they have apparently withheld public distribution of it in order to avoid further embarrassment. It is apparently available only to core supporters and potential contributors, safe from exposure to knowledgable criticism (although I understand it will be available on Publius in the near future). I have wondered if the Foundation's subpoena of all materials related to their early history is an effort to see what's out here and to better judge what they can get away with in the constructing of a history for public consumption which supports their institutional ambitions and metaphysical delusions.
There is an increasingly important role for the Fellowship in this hostile and artificially contrived environment, and that is the presentation to the world of a revelation free from attachment to any other conditions or beliefs -- declarations of trust, divine mandates, continuing channeled revelation, declarations of loyalty to an institution or an ideology, or any other religious artifact which someone might seek to associate with the book. This is our task -- to represent the revelation and the revelation alone, to the greatest extent possible. The Foundation's insistence upon making support of the declaration of trust a cardinal feature of loyalty to the Urantia revelation reminds me of the early Christians who did the same thing with circumcision and baptism.
But we absolutely cannot afford to become distracted or disoriented by anything anyone else or any other group might do with the book or to us. We must remain dedicated to the presentation to the world of a revelation free from association with any other set of conditions or beliefs. And we must remain dedicated to the dissemination imperative with which I believe The Urantia Book challenges every believer -- "If you are not a positive and missionary evangel of your religion, you are self-deceived in that what you call a religion is only a traditional belief or a mere system of intellectual philosophy." [160:5.3]. There is nothing in this statement or anywhere else in the book which even remotely implies that all such evangelical drives must be subordinated to the control and direction of some central authority comprised of a self-selected group of our fellow mortals. I believe it is our duty to identify, foster and support all such evangelical drives as they appear at the grass-roots level in the international social environment -- not reconfigure them to support the institutional objectives of a North American corporation.
My personal sense is that the current economic bubble in the developed world, the ability to easily travel to any place on the planet and the unprecedented world-wide communications system may not always be here. There are many trends in the social, political, economic and ecological spheres which appear to me to be on serious collision courses with reality; we should be doing everything possible to exploit present opportunities to spread the revelation and to foster the growth of independent readership groups in every geographic region and language group of the planet.
Urantia Foundation's assault on every new independent reader group which comes to their attention is deplorable and dealing with this reality will challenge all that is best in each of us. I do not believe that we should get involved with a countervailing public relations campaign -- that would likely only sink us into greater hostility, division and long term social problems. I advocate focusing on the gospel message, the core message of the book, and leaving it to readers to discern the difference between spiritual reality and exploitative social dysfunctionality. Cosmic truth and the illumination of the spiritual horizons revealed by The Urantia Book are probably the best antitodes available to us.
We need to pursue this task and make sure that we preserve our ability to do so as an institutional entity so that we can leverage the potentials of a dedicated association of revelation workers. Let us take up the challenge which the revelators present to us, "Religion does need new leaders, spiritual men and women who will dare to depend solely on Jesus and his incomparable teachings."
Lastly let me remind us that "New meanings only emerge amid conflict, and conflict persists only in the face of the refusal to espouse the higher values connoted in superior meanings." [100:4.1]
Let us keep in mind a clear vision of the revelation which this world so desperately needs -- "unencumbered with the accumulated doctrines and dogmas of 50 years' association with the traditions and hear-say stories of its origin" -- and let us work tirelessly to present it in its spiritual grandeur to our fellows. Let us not be distracted by what others may do with it or to it. Let us be about our Father's business.
"Be not discouraged, the revelation of God to the world, in and through Jesus, shall not fail."
David Kantor