Harry McMullan's Letters to Urantia Foundation
Harry McMullan to Foundation, 8/25/99:
This is in reply to your certified letter...in which you demanded that I refrain from distributing Part IV of The Urantia Book. Though the letter was addressed to me, I am answering it in my capacity of President of Michael Foundation, Inc., the publisher of Jesus-A New Revelation.
What I know regarding your copyright to The Urantia Book differs markedly from what you assert that I know. It is the following:
The original decision by Judge Urbom invalidating Urantia Foundation's copyright to The Urantia Book by summary judgment was based on a correct analysis of the facts and the law concerned. While ruling-most significantly-that revelation is uncopyrightable, Judge Schroeder's 9th Circuit reversal of the District Court decision relied upon the fact that members of the Forum posed questions to the revelators, a situation which she deemed supplied sufficient human involvement for copyright protection (ignoring, among other things, the fact that Urantia Foundation was not even the successor in interest to the Forum).
The 9th Circuit decision was given without citing any precedents, because none exists. The concept that individuals who merely pose questions to an author are entitled to copyright protection would create the ludicrous situation of giving anyone who talks with an author about his upcoming book a claim to copyright. Such a legal theory would open to challenge the copyrights of 99% of authors to claims by, for example, friends and neighbors with whom they might have bounced around ideas regarding their upcoming books, not to say copy editors whose job it is to rewrite the books themselves. Amicus curiae against such a ludicrous position would likely be filed by any number of individuals and publishing houses who would not want the entire concept of authorship in copyright law so radically overthrown.
Quite apart from the issue of Forum questions, the "History of the Urantia Movement," which Urantia Foundation introduced as having been written by Wm. S. Sadler, trustee [Editor's note: Dr. Sadler was never a trustee of Urantia Foundation] and former contact commissioner, forecloses Urantia Foundation from now claiming any other species of that human involvement which would be necessary in order to qualify The Urantia Book for copyright protection. That document states unequivocally that the contact commission "had no editorial authority. [Its] job was limited to spelling, capitalization, and punctuation."
Further, Urantia Foundation is on record admitting that "no human being wrote any portion of the text of the Papers." This testimony (made when Urantia Foundation was basing its copyright claim on a different theory) supplies a mortal blow to the weak "compilation" copyright which is all that now remains of the original "full" copyright which Urantia Foundation obtained based on the false claim that it had authored the Urantia Papers.
And there are other grounds on which Urantia Foundation's copyright to the entire Urantia Book is defective. It is quite certain that the poorly thought-out, indeed absurd, Schroeder opinion will be reversed upon any serious challenge.
However, even if the Schroeder opinion were upheld, its very terms preclude the enforceability of the copyright with respect to the material contained in Jesus-A New Revelation. This is the case because all evidence reveals that Part IV of The Urantia Book was delivered to the contact commission as a completed document without any of the Forum involvement which Judge Schroeder stipulated as the basis for copyright protection.
In short, gentlemen, your chances of prevailing in a copyright challenge to the entire Urantia Book are very slim; and with respect to Part IV-at least against someone whom you can neither successfully intimidate nor financially exhaust-you will most certainly lose. Jesus-A New Revelation will remain on the market until such time as a court of competent jurisdiction finally rules that it must be removed, an event which we are confident will never occur.
However, for me there is far more to this issue than the legalities involved. I believe that in the world to come I will have to account for what I did with respect to the "greatest of all human knowledge" which according to The Urantia Book is "to know the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it." (196:1.3) Other statements by Jesus are equally compelling, such as, "And now I declare to you that I, if I be lifted up on earth and in your lives, will draw all men to myself and into the fellowship of my Father." (174:5.13)
The only arguments I have heard against proceeding forward on those and similar imperatives are based on the so-called "mandates," which, since they were given to none of us now alive, have no more than the status of hearsay. I find it easy to obey the direct words of Jesus in situations where they conflict with so-called "mandates" which by their own terms were supposed to be burned 20 years ago. I see the relationship of the so-called "mandates" to the revelation itself as no more than a twentieth-century version of the oral traditions which the Sanhedrin taught were more sacred and binding than Scripture itself (153:3.7), and against which oral traditions Jesus was in "constant collision." (124:1.13)
Michael Foundation is doing no more than the work you yourselves are called to do. Yet instead of pursuing the many worthy activities open to you in furtherance of the kingdom of God and brotherhood of man, you are contemplating allocating a significant fraction of your resources toward legal action in order to suppress the dissemination of Jesus' gospel.
Any such effort, you must be aware, will consume many years and immense resources, and ultimately will prove futile. While I would much prefer to spend my time and energy promoting the gospel, if it becomes my duty to defend the free access of people to God's (not your) revelation, be assured that I will consider it the highest honor to do so. This is true notwithstanding the fact that two of you are among my dearest friends.
Freedom of religion is inseparable from freedom of religious expression. People like myself who believe that The Urantia Book is a divine revelation will no more submit to controls on its dissemination than Christians would to controls on their ability to use the texts of the original manuscripts from which the Bible was compiled. The fifth epochal revelation should and will be free.
You can learn this lesson voluntarily or you can let life itself teach you. Your misguided control/suppression approach is doomed because human religious expression cannot lastingly be squelched. Instead of experiencing consternation over the passing of your unjust control over the fellowship of believers, you should rejoice that a new day is dawning in which all sorts of new creativity will be unleashed in work for the Father's kingdom. There's nothing to be scared of. For example, in the short time in which Jesus-A New Revelation has been out, significant numbers of individuals who previously had been unreceptive to The Urantia Book in its totality have encountered and benefited from the truth of Jesus' God-revealing life on earth through that work. And that is just the start.
Urantia Foundation has a limited future so long as it attempts to play religious dictator over the family of believers. Cooperation with the fellowship of believers, instead of misguided attempts to maintain unjust control over them, will serve the world-and yourselves-much better. Why not use this opportunity to make a clean break with Urantia Foundation's traditional control/suppression approach and give cooperation/support a try? I predict you would be most delighted with the support you in turn would thereby receive.
Sincerely,
Harry McMullan, President
Michael Foundation, Inc.
Harry McMullan to Foundation, 10/28/99:
This responds to your letter dated October 13, 1999, in which you seek to dissuade me from my efforts to share Jesus' gospel with the world. As you know, the Master gave clear instructions-more than twenty times-that his followers do exactly that. An example:
"If you would obey me, go then into the lands of the gentiles and proclaim this gospel. … There is but one law to obey-that is the command to go forth proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. Cease to fear men; be unafraid to preach the good news of eternal life to your fellows who languish in darkness and hunger for the light of truth." (192:2.11)
Notwithstanding your theories about my motivations, you should understand that in assisting Michael Foundation in publishing Jesus-A New Revelation, I am determined to obey Jesus by carrying out his instructions as given in his statement above. I will do this for the remainder of my life according to my best understanding of his instructions, with all the energy, purpose, and resources available to me, and regardless of the consequences.
In your attempt to provide a Urantia justification for legal action against me you cited four situations in which legal action is supposedly justifiable. The first concerned the universe spiritual government, the second and third referred to action by civil government, and the fourth had reference to action within one's religious group. As we know, however, Urantia Foundation is neither the universe government nor the civil government, and I do not belong to your religious group, the IUA. The distinction between a voluntary religious group and civil government is elementary to serious students of The Urantia Book. Is it possible that you are unaware of this?
The Creator of our universe spoke plainly and repeatedly on the issue of believers seeking to forcefully compel one another. Should you decide to initiate legal action against me, it will be you, not I, who choose to ignore the Master's instructions concerning this matter. Here is some of what he said:
"Never should a righteous cause be promoted by force." (159:3.2)
"In the kingdom of heaven true believers will not resort to the employment of physical force. … [N]either should you employ the physical forces of earthly governments, whose rulers may sometime become believers, in the work of furthering the mission of the spiritual kingdom." (178:1.2-3)
"[You] should not employ temporal power in the furtherance of the spiritual kingdom…." (178:1.6)
"You must not seek to promulgate truth nor to establish righteousness by the power of civil governments or by the enaction of secular laws." (178:1.12)
"Be willing to suffer injustice rather than to go to law among yourselves." (140:3.14)
"We clashed with these established leaders and recognized rulers only when they threw themselves directly in the way of the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom to the sons of men. And even now, it is not we who assail them, but they who seek our destruction. Do not forget that you are commissioned to go forth preaching only the good news." (178:1.16)
Have you so far misunderstood and perverted the spiritual mission of Urantia Foundation that you now seek to prevent by threat of force a serious attempt to bring the true gospel of Jesus to the world? Jesus made it clear that his gospel belonged to all who believe it, not to any self-appointed group seeking to control it. I believe that your attitude is manifestly inconsistent with the teachings of The Urantia Book. Said Jesus:
"That which my Father sent me into the world to establish belongs not to a race, a nation, nor to a special group of teachers or preachers. This gospel of the kingdom belongs to both Jew and gentile, to rich and poor, to free and bond, to male and female, even to the little children." (191:6.2)
"As the Father sent me into this world, even so now send I you. You are all called to carry the good news to those who sit in darkness. This gospel of the kingdom belongs to all who believe it; it shall not be committed to the custody of mere priests." (191:6.3)
You say your only concern is for the integrity of the revelation. I and Michael Foundation are equally concerned. Jesus-A New Revelation is completely faithful to the original text; not a single word has been changed. Furthermore, it is puzzling why you are so concerned here when you do nothing to stop J. J. Benítez, who copies large parts of The Urantia Book and interweaves it with commercial fiction. Why do you do nothing when the integrity of the book is truly at stake, and now threaten a lawsuit to stop a non-profit work which is altogether faithful to the revealed text? Truly, you "strain at gnats and swallow camels."
Your letter attempts to make the case that I am isolated from the Urantia community in this project. While this may seem so to you, it is the absolute contrary of my experience. I assure you that I have never received so much support from the Urantia community for anything I have ever done. But of course that's not the point. Even if I received no support whatever for this effort, my determination to accomplish it would be undiminished. I am attempting to carry out Jesus' instructions as I understand them and I fully intend to do that regardless of anyone's approval or disapproval. Whose instructions do you seek to obey? Here, for example, is an important one:
"Had the followers of Jesus taken more seriously his injunction to 'go into all the world and preach the gospel,' and had they been more gracious in that preaching, less stringent in collateral social requirements of their own devising, then many lands would gladly have received the simple gospel of the carpenter's son, Arabia among them." (95:7.3)
Should you initiate legal action to stop the publication and dissemination of Jesus-A New Revelation, it will be you, not I, who will become increasingly isolated from the Urantia community. Have you learned nothing from your past experience? Your self-serving justifications will not fool sincere students of The Urantia Book. They will not look favorably upon your refusal to follow the Master's repeated instructions about using force against fellow believers. Nor will they approve of your self-deceived effort to prevent me and others from following his instructions to take his gospel and the true account of his life to the world.
Your letter compares the printing of Jesus-A New Revelation to the miscarriage of the second epochal revelation. You said: "We know from Eve's folly that one's own personal plans for improving mankind can miscarry and retard, instead of stimulate, growth." I agree with you and strongly encourage you to take your own advice. It is you who are following your own personal plans, whereas I am only doing precisely what Jesus so explicitly and repeatedly commanded.
Through arrogance and presumption you have deluded yourselves into thinking that there is only one way to obey the Master's instructions-your way. Worse still, you seek to impose your personal convictions, even by force, upon all believers. There are many ways to follow Jesus' command to bring his gospel to the world, of which Jesus-A New Revelation is one. Jesus was clear on this point:
"Many times during the training of the twelve Jesus reverted to this theme. Repeatedly he told them it was not his desire that those who believed in him should become dogmatized and standardized in accordance with the religious interpretations of even good men. Again and again he warned his apostles against the formulation of creeds and the establishment of traditions as a means of guiding and controlling believers in the gospel of the kingdom." (141:5.4)
Regarding the benefit of bringing the true life and teachings of Jesus to the world, The Urantia Book clearly states:
"Jesus understood the minds of men. He knew what was in the heart of man, and had his teachings been left as he presented them, the only commentary being the inspired interpretation afforded by his earth life, all nations and all religions of the world would speedily have embraced the gospel of the kingdom." (149:2.1)
This perfectly describes what Jesus-A New Revelation is intended to accomplish.
You speak of your desire for peace. I also desire peace, as do all sincere believers, but we are not told to seek peace at any price. The price you demand of me is that I abandon not only my personal convictions of what Jesus requires of me, but also the Master's express instructions. Further, you inform me that if I refuse to comply with your demands, you will employ legal means to force me into submission. The price you demand of me for peace is too high. Your narrow and obstinate insistence that yours is the only way is the true source of discord and the destroyer of peace. How do you square your attitude with the Master's direct teachings?
"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." (134:4.3-4)
"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." (134:4.6)
"There can be no lasting religious peace on Urantia until all religious groups freely surrender all their notions of divine favor, chosen people, and religious sovereignty. Only when God the Father becomes supreme will men become religious brothers and live together in religious peace on earth." (134:4.10)
Your recent letter states, "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." I disagree. From Michael's standpoint-the only one that counts for me-the "real question" is our relationship to him, to his gospel, and to his unmistakably clear instructions as to what we must do with his gospel. Once again I repeat the words of Jesus:
"There is but one law to obey-that is the command to go forth proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom." (192:2.11)
I do not relish the prospect of a protracted legal contest with Urantia Foundation. I much prefer and pray that all believers live in peace with one another, each pursuing the truth and serving the revelation as they best understand it. But my obligation to carry out Jesus' instructions as I understand them supersedes all other considerations. I trust this letter will make both my purpose and unshakeable determination clear to you. Jesus has commanded us to take his gospel to the world. I am simply trying to obey him in this as best I know how. I will not-cannot-do otherwise, regardless of the consequences.
Excerpt from letter from Oklahoma law offices of McAfee & Taft to Urantia Foundation, 10/29/99:
Nature of a "composite work."
You refer in your letter to the Maaherra case. Michael Foundation carefully studied the evidence presented in that case before deciding to publish Jesus-A New Revelation. An important issue to bear in mind in determining the copyrightability of the material in Jesus-A New Revelation is the nature of the copyright you were left with as a result of the 9th Circuit ruling. As you know, the court found that you were the proprietor of a "composite work." By definition, the process of creating a composite work presumes that the creator began with certain "building blocks" consisting of original works by others. The compiler of a composite work is not entitled, merely because he compiled the composite work, to claim copyright as to the original works by others-the building blocks with which the compiler started.
Urantia Foundation admissions that no human sources were involved.
Your copyright was affirmed only because of supposed human input in its creation. We are confident that a future court will not ignore the direct evidence of your own testimony to the effect that no human sources were involved; for example:
1. "The History of the Urantia Papers," a document you attributed to Dr. Sadler, and on which you relied, after describing the process by which papers were received, states that the contact commission "had no editorial authority. [Its] job was limited to spelling, capitalization, and punctuation."
2. "I can categorically assure you that no humans decided the content of The Urantia Book. The Book is as the revelators gave it to us." (Emma Christensen, contact commissioner and trustee of Urantia Foundation)
3. "The Urantia Book was not written by Urantia Foundation. It is a revelation given to this world by superhuman personalities." (Emma Christensen)
4. "The Urantia Book was published precisely as it was given to the people of this planet. Not a word has been added or deleted." (Emma Christensen)
5. "No human scholars edited the book." (Emma Christensen)
6. "The Urantia Book is arranged and assembled exactly as revealed." "No human ever edited this material." (Thomas Kendall, Urantia Foundation trustee)
7. Further, in your own responses to Requests for Admissions, Urantia Foundation is on record admitting "no human being wrote any portion of the text of the Papers."
It would serve no useful purpose to continue to recount the mass of relevant evidence developed in the Maaherra case in this case, all of which indicates that no human creativity was associated with the formation of the text of The Urantia Book, which of course includes the material contained in Jesus-A New Revelation.
Singular origin of Part IV.
The court ruled that your copyright in the entire book does not extend to any single "revelation" contained in The Urantia Book-i.e., any portion of the book to which no human creativity was applied. With respect to the court's ruling that a particular revelation in The Urantia Book is not copyrightable, the aforementioned "History of the Urantia Movement" is most illuminating. It states, "What has just been recorded refers more particularly to Parts I, II, and III of The Urantia Book. Part IV-The Jesus Papers-had a little different origin. They were produced by a midwayer commission and were completed one year later than the other Papers. The first three parts were completed and certified to us in A.D. 1934. The Jesus Papers were not so delivered to us until 1935."
Moreover, we have in our possession an affidavit from an individual to the effect that Wm. Sadler, Jr. personally told him on several occasions that the entire Part IV arrived at the same time, already typed, and that no changes were made. The forum question and answer process was not involved in Part IV.
In publishing Jesus-A New Revelation, Michael Foundation firmly believed, and still believes, that the contents of that book constitute a single revelation-albeit a large one-unadulterated by human input. The testimony is clear that even if the remainder of The Urantia Book is copyrightable, the material in Part IV constitutes a "single revelation" not subject to copyright.
Adulterations of the text of The Urantia Book by "human creativity."
Michael Foundation has no interest whatsoever in publishing anything other than the fifth epochal revelation. To Michael Foundation, what you are calling "human creativity" (by any alleged predecessors in interest of Urantia Foundation, Urantia Foundation itself, or anyone else) is nothing more than an adulteration of the true text as it was given. Rest assured that of all people or entities, Michael Foundation is most interested in knowing where (if anywhere) in the text of Part IV such adulterations might exist, so that in a subsequent edition Michael Foundation may edit them out and bring the true fifth epochal revelation to the world.
In printing Jesus-A New Revelation, Michael Foundation has relied on your own testimony to the effect that no human input was involved. It was Urantia Foundation that made the above-quoted statements to the effect that the entire book is an unadulterated revelation, not Michael Foundation. Therefore, we feel that Michael Foundation is entitled to continue to rely on your statements and admissions until such time as we are presented with credible evidence (not merely general assertions that human beings were involved in the process) that establishes the following:
1. The precise words that were added, deleted or changed from the original revelation;
2. The precise changes that were made in the order of the original revelations;
3. The persons who made the changes; and
4. When the changes were made.
Of course, any such evidence must be considered in light of the testimony and statements of those past trustees who were physically present at the time the revelation was given, such as those cited above. Nevertheless, if we are convinced that any changes you identify are actually changes by you or your predecessors, Michael Foundation will make haste to delete your changes in the revealed text so as to conform with the genuine uncopyrightable revelation.
Sincerely,
Ross A. Plourde
Attorney for Michael Foundation