We Lost - Again!

Foundation v. Kristen Maaherra
February, 1999

Declaratory Judgment Signed

Judge Urbom ruled on the 3 Motions before him. His Memorandum and Order, and Judgment, are enclosed. Urbom decided there will be no hearing on March 15th. It's over. We lost (again)...

I want to thank all of you who were going to attend the hearing. And thanks to all of you who have been praying, donating, and standing up for the superhuman authorship of the Urantia Papers over the last 8 years of this lawsuit.

Easy Way Out

I do think Urbom decided to "take the easy way out" in granting the Foundation's Declaratory Judgment. And Urbom's point that our defenses are defenses to an injunction, but not to infringement is, of course, inaccurate, because the only part of The Urantia Book (as published by the Foundation) that was done by humans, as we all know, is the Titles of the Papers and Contents of the Book section, pages vii through lxvi, which was put together by William Sadler, Jr. The Foreword and Papers 1 through 196 were authored, created, indited, and revealed by the superhuman revelators Divine Counselors, Melchizedeks, Archangels, Life Carriers, etc. Our defense in the hearing was to provide evidence from the contact commissioners and others of exactly what was revelation and what was done by humans.

Urbom "ordered and declared" that I "infringed the renewal copyrights in The Urantia Book by the verbatim copying of The Urantia Book onto computer diskettes and distributing the diskettes to others," but the reason Eric and I didn't use the Titles of the Papers and Contents of the Book section when we indexed the Urantia Papers was that we only wanted to index that which had no human authorship, and we'd heard that Bill Sadler authored pages vii through lxvi - and even according to the Appeal Court ruling, that which is "revelatory" is "of course" in public domain.

It's interesting that Trustee Richard Keeler told me after the Boulder meeting (last summer) that Bill Sadler, Jr., wrote the Table of Contents of the Urantia Book, and he believes that's the part that gives the Foundation their human copyrightable material. But if that's truly how he sees it - he never should have sued me in the first place because (as he well knows) I didn't use pages vii through lxvi in the computer index. By only indexing the revelatory material, I never infringed on the Foundation's copyright in the Urantia Book in the first place. Urbom probably would have given us an injunction hearing, but he decided not to give me an infringement hearing.

When the Foundation asked for an injunction, Joe warned me to expect Urbom to put some kind of injunction on me, because there is not even one copyright case where an injunction has not been granted against the losing party. But I have no injunction against me, and no damages to pay. It appears that the Foundation would do "anything" to avoid a hearing in which evidence would be presented to the Court which would "prove" they are copyright owners only because of the Titles of the Papers and Contents of the Book section, pages vii through lxvi, which was put together by William Sadler, Jr.

In court and in other legal documents, the Foundation has also claimed forum authorship, contact commission authorship, sleeping subject authorship (although we all know the Papers were NOT channeled), and Foundation authorship. Which is why I believe the Foundation is in default.

Don't Judges have souls, too?

Speaking of judges. . . isn't it strange that the first things Judges McNamee and Urbom (in Arizona), Judge Daniel (in Colorado), Judges Schroeder, Lay, and Good (in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals) ever heard of the fifth epochal revelation, from its publisher, is that it was written by humans, and that it's not a religious book?

Don't Judges have souls, too? For the Foundation to tell those Judges, lawyers, clerks, (and anyone else present in the many courtrooms) that the Urantia Papers are not religious, and that they have human authorship is like the apostles telling people that, "Jesus was not a religious teacher, and he was not the revelation of God. He taught history, cosmology, and philosophy but he was not a religious teacher in any way, shape, or form. Yes, he could perform some miracles sometimes, but he was definitely no more 'superhuman' than I am."

More Illustrations of the Point:

1. Imagine someone calling up the Foundation and saying, "I have this book that you published. Can you tell me about it?" Would Christy or Doc Sadler say, "By the way, it's not a religious book. And we're not a religious organization in any way, shape or form. And parts of it were written by Bill Sadler, Jr." (?!)

Judges and lawyers are our brothers and sisters, too. How often have the Foundation's courtroom statements damaged souls whose first contact with the Urantia Papers has been to hear (from its publisher!) that it "isn't a religious book," and that it was "created by" humans?

2. On Friday nights in Boulder, trustee Mo Siegel hosts a "New Readers Study Group." Does Mo's initial presentation of the Papers include announcing to these potential believers that the Urantia Papers have standard, middle of the road, "copyrightable human authorship"? And that Bill Sadler "wrote, authored, however you want to look at it, parts of the Urantia Book"? No real believer presents the revelation that way to someone who has never heard of it before.

3. Fundraising letters from the Foundation have never included statements they put in court records. They don't say, for example, "Donate money to us because we are a commercial publisher trying to make a profit on this literary 'work for hire' authored by Bill Sadler, Jr."

Fraud: "A deception deliberately practiced in order to secure unfair or unlawful gain." Sadly, fraud is the least of the Foundation's crimes. Crimes against the souls of believers and potential believers are, in my opinion, millstones around the trustee's necks.

Coventry and Jesus' Way

Remember Winston Churchill's famous decision during WWII? If Churchill warned the people of the town of Coventry that the Nazis were going to bomb them, then Hitler would know that the British had broken the Nazi enigma code. Churchill decided NOT to tell the people of Coventry, figuring that his decision would save more lives in the future, and even win the war. That's a political decision, a "tough" decision, but that's the way you do it in the kingdoms of men.

Jesus' way, on the other hand, is, "We had rather assume the risk of a system rebellion than to court the hazard of depriving one struggling mortal from any evolutionary world of the eternal joy of pursuing the ascending career." That's the way of the kingdom of heaven. I believe you've got to follow Jesus if you want to advance the kingdom of heaven. You don't sacrifice the town of Coventry to advance the kingdom of heaven. And you don't sacrifice individual Judges and lawyers and clerks.

You don't sacrifice believers, either - this whole continuum of lawsuits - starting with Bob Burton, and including CUBS, the Houston group (Allen and Sue Brazell), the Burton Kings (in L.A.), Jacques Weiss (in France), Eric Schaveland (in Colorado), and J.J. Johnson and Kristen Maaherra (in Arizona).

How damaging for the revelation - as well as for struggling mortals - that the publisher of the epochal revelation to the planet says it was authored by humans.

The apostles thought Jesus was just naive in the "ways of the world" when they concealed swords under their cloaks. The Foundation seems to consider itself "wise in the ways of the world" when it sues believers and lies in court in order to keep a copyright. But, as Jesus told the sword-carrying apostles, he doesn't want the kingdom of heaven advanced by material means.

The "Shape" of the Lawsuit

I have been computer-archiving the stuff from the last 8 years of this lawsuit - not just court briefs, but your letters, Declarations, Affidavits, the exhibits you sent with wonderful words of encouragement, letters with donations enclosed, or with notes that said you'd donated to the Agondonters, Asoka, or Joe Lewis directly to help pay for the lawsuit. I feel like I've romped through the last 8 years in the last few weeks.

It's interesting how you can see the "shape" of something best when it's over. Like the Viet Nam war: America has a better feel for the "shape" of it now than when it was happening. While the war was going on, the country was polarized into "doves" and "hawks."

(Speaking of being polarized, I just received a letter from someone who defended my position in this lawsuit to the people in his study group and was told he was not welcome to come back to study group!)

As the years go by, I think we all are going to get a better perspective, a better sense of the travesty that has been done to the Urantia Papers by the very trustees who are supposed to be disseminating it as the fifth epochal revelation to the planet a better sense of the "shape" of their lawsuits.

Revelation: (n). Something revealed, especially a dramatic disclosure of something not previously known or realized. Theology. A manifestation of divine will or truth. [Middle English revelacion, from Old French revelation, from Latin revelatio, revelation-, from revelatus, past participle of revelare, to reveal: to make known by supernatural or divine means.]

Pet Peeve

By the way, copyrights don't "protect" text; authors change the text of their works from printing to printing, just as the Foundation has done. What we need to protect the revelator's text is integrity, honesty, not law.

I am archiving all this information for two reasons: for believers 100 years from now, and for the next person the Foundation sues. I realize this lawsuit is part of a continuum of lawsuits, it's a place in the stream. We who believe the Urantia Papers have NO HUMAN AUTHORSHIP are not anchored to this place. There is a past and a future to this trustee-created stream.

What Now?

I don't know what else to do to stand up for the superhuman authorship of the Urantia Papers.

I haven't felt like trying to "forgive" the trustees while they were still hitting me. (How can you forgive someone in the middle of a beating? You have to wait at least till it's over.) But now, I turned my prayers to forgiveness. Then I realized once again that it's not about me, it's never been about me, I'm not the "victim" here (in spite of what people say). The real victim is the revelation. Let me explain how I feel about this issue.

I will never forgive those people - the trustees - as long as they continue to discredit and deny the revelation, as long as their power base is built on the lie of human authorship.

If the Foundation trustees deserve to get their mercy credits, FIRST justice must function (the mercy process is: first just, then fair, then patient, then kind, then merciful). And justice is a group function. You and I are part of a group, part of a jury, that is in the process of evaluating the Foundation's actions in regards to the revelation. Many Urantians have raised their voices in that chorus. The right thing to do is to follow Gabriel's example, as he countered Lucifer's sophistries and began a lawsuit against the rebels. We know mixing truth and error with an epochal revelation - even with good intentions - is default. When the apostles preached a religion about Jesus, they put the fourth epochal revelation in a chrysalis. Are we going to mix good and evil with the Urantia Papers ("it's a superhuman revelation but it also has human authorship," says the Foundation) and conceal the Papers in a thousand year chrysalis for the sake of "unity"?

What we are fighting for is for the truth of the revelation to be known. This is the revelation that is destined to change the world, to save the world by bringing the real religion of Jesus to Urantia. We have been standing up for the truth of NO HUMAN AUTHORSHIP; the truth of the three concentric circles as the Banner of Michael, NOT being a trademark of the Foundation; and the truth that we need to use the REVEALED WORDS Urantia and Urantian to identify ourselves to each other. And they are not "coined words" contrary to what Thomas Kendall, Martin Myers, and Mo Siegel have claimed in public.
Thank You Again!

Thank you to all of you who have supported and encouraged me through this ordeal. Thank you for your sweet notes and phone calls after I sent out that last mailing in which my sadness over this whole trying experience showed so blatantly.

Last Requests

1. Thank yous. I'm hoping that Joe Lewis will receive a note from each of you thanking him for all his hard work on this case. Would you write him such a note? That would be wonderful! Thanking you in advance, here's his new address: Joe Lewis, Barnes & Thornburg, 1401 Eye St., NW, Washington, DC 20005.

2. Money. Currently - thanks to the generosity of one special donor - Joe Lewis is paid in full. However, two times in the last 8 years, I borrowed large sums to keep this lawsuit going. I have been paying these loans back at the rate of $250 to $450 per month - but at the speed I'm going, I'll still be in debt on the mansion worlds! If each of you sent one last lawsuit donation of $50 or $100 I would appreciate it more than I can say! (If you send a check to Asoka or the Agondonter Fund, please mark it, "for Maaherra lawsuit debt.")

Thank you once again, dear sisters and brothers,
Much love, and God bless you, Kristen.

P.S. As this is a "limited funds" mailing, I am hoping you'll make copies for your study group and/or send it to - or just tell - other Urantian friends who might be able to help me end the debt of the lawsuit.

Important promise: All donations over the amount I need to pay back lawsuit loans will go into publishing another CD.