Chapter Seven

BY 1941, FRANCE HAD COLLAPSED and Hitler was the virtual master of Europe. There was great concern among Americans that the United States would be drawn into the conflict to help England. Meanwhile, at 533 Diversey, the war concern was compounded by a foreboding that the publication of the Urantia Papers would be delayed. In this atmosphere, in July of 1941, Harold Sherman and his wife visited Dr. Sadler in Chicago. It was to be a fateful meeting.

The Sherman Tempest

In 1942 a rebellion of sorts took place in the Forum, generally known as the "Sherman Tempest." The sad result of this fierce conflict affected the culture of the Forum and caused divisions in the Urantia movement that have persisted to this day. To understand the disruptive impact the "Sherman Tempest" had on the Forum, we first need to consider the background of the early plans to form an organization to oversee the welfare and propagation of the Urantia Papers. We know plans for a Urantia organization were being formulated in the early Thirties because Clyde Bedell wrote a strong letter to Wilfred Kellogg in October of 1933 questioning the idea of a board of self-appointed Trustees with lifetime tenures.¹ By 1941, as the possible publication of the Papers seemed to be approaching, lawyers were consulted by the Contact Commission about the formation and structure of an incorporated entity to assume responsibility for the welfare of the Urantia Papers. The Forum was aware of this activity, but they were not consulted, nor even generally privy to the nature and status of the Contact Commission's organizational plans. It was in this atmosphere that Harold Sherman and his wife joined the Forum.

To understand what then took place, we need to examine three primary sources. In 1976 Harold Sherman published a very dramatic view of the events of 34 years earlier in a small paperback: How to Know What to Believe. In the same year, Clyde wrote a paper in rebuttal: A Response to a Thinly Disguised Attack on the Urantia Papers. Both accounts are passionate; and each tended to demonize the other side. It was not until 2003-4, when Saskia Praamsma and Matthew Block published Volumes 1 through 3 of The Sherman Diaries, that new information gave yet another perspective on the events.

Harold Sherman's Diaries and Clyde Bedell's rebuttal paper are in reasonable agreement about germinal events that led to the crisis. Very shortly after the Shermans arrived, on May 31, 1942, the Forum was told the Revelation phase was ended, and no more questions from the Forum members would be entertained.² The text was frozen, and the Contact Commission was told to prepare it for publication. From this point on the Forum became a kind of glorified study group.³ The members were also excluded from any participation in forming the organizations that would protect and propagate the Revelation. It should be noted here that the Forum members had contributed the money that made the preparations for printing the book possible (the setting of the text in type and the making of the printing plates). Due to the downgrading of the Forum and excluding members from discussing the organizational plans, there was a mild, but growing dissention in the Forum.

WHO WAS HAROLD SHERMAN?

Harold Sherman was a good writer with a poetic and spiritual bent, and his wife Martha was supremely devoted to him. He tended toward the occult and had strong convictions about psychic phenomena. In 1921, at the age of 23, Harold spent an evening with Harry Loose, who was an enigmatic and charismatic individual. Sherman became convinced that Loose had unfathomable psychic powers. With the exception of a single letter from Loose, they lost contact, but Sherman never forgot that evening.

It was 1941 before Harold was able to locate Loose again. At that time, Loose told Harold about the Urantia Papers. Apparently Loose had been a patient of Dr. Sadler and had taken part in the Forum. Loose said that when the Papers were published in a book, they would impact the thinking of the entire world. Moreover, Loose was certain that Harold was destined to play an important role in propagating The Urantia Book, and would eventually write a great book himself that would parallel the Urantia Papers in scope. Loose had a remarkable ability to flatter and persuade Sherman that the writer was a child of destiny, and he would be a potent force as he became acquainted with the Urantia Papers. Sherman's book, Loose repeatedly wrote to Sherman, would result in fame and historic acclaim for him. "Oh what a book you will eventually write! 'This is the apartment in which he once lived' …" [Diaries, Vol 2, p. 64]. Loose assured Harold that Sherman was a unique individual, one of a special group he called hybrids. Loose believed both he and Sherman had reincarnated on our planet several times. (Of course this idea is contrary to the teachings of the Urantia Papers. At the time, Sherman did not know this).

Harold and his wife eventually traveled to Chicago to meet Dr. Sadler and to learn more about the Revelation. The Shermans were accepted by Dr. Sadler, and they moved to Chicago in May, 1942 to study the Urantia Revelation. From the Diaries it is clear that Sherman and Martha sat down to read the Urantia Papers at 533 Diversey with honest hearts and a sincere desire to be of service to the Revelation. And this is where Volume One of the fascinating Diaries end. Then came Volume Two and Three of the Diaries, with information that was even more startling and intriguing.

Volume Two of the Diaries leaves some confusion in my mind. In many important respects it contrasts dramatically with Harold's 1976 book, How to Know What to Believe. For example, Sherman praises the Urantia Papers extravagantly throughout Volume Two of the Diaries: "... this is as true and authentic and scientifically probable revelation of all the universe mysteries which have baffled man since the evolution of human creatures on this planet ... Each line of the immense amount of material is absolutely breathtaking." [p.23] This, in spite of the fact that Harry Loose's hybrid material is supposedly "missing." Loose wrote: "The long and very interesting story of the hybrids has evidently been deleted from the minds and from the papers. Why I know not, but be assured, it was for a good purpose."[p.47]. Of Dr. Sadler Sherman writes: "Dr. Sadler is as sweet a personality as we have ever met and means the best I am sure." [p. 43]. Loose's mild complaints by mail do not affect Sherman's love of the Papers, and he continues to rhapsodize about them. In the Diaries, after a full reading of the Papers, Harold wrote: "I accept wholeheartedly and without any reservation whatsoever the Book of Urantia and the Revelation it contains." [p. 73] Of Jesus he writes: "... for the first time we understand completely the appearance of Jesus on earth—why he came and what his coming means to us in relation to out destiny which leads beyond what we call death to glories indescribable." [p. 23] Even after a confrontation with the Sadlers in the Forum in September of 1942, Harold maintained faith in the Papers, although he was disillusioned with Dr. Sadler. He wrote of this clash to Sir Hubert Wilkins in October, noting that: "nothing at all has happened to discredit the wonderful revelation."

CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS BY SHERMAN

This is a very different version of events than what is presented in Sherman's 1976 book. For example, Sherman claims in How to Know What to Believe that he and Martha had immediate misgivings about the Papers for several reasons, among them that they "could not accept" the concept of the Thought Adjuster. [p. 71] He states in How to Know What to Believe that he was concerned because the first three Parts of the Papers make no mention of Jesus, and that the Jesus Papers were added after the Book was declared "finished" in 1934. [p. 72] It should be noted that Clyde Bedell and virtually all the Forum members agree that the Revelation continued throughout the thirties, and the Papers were not declared finished by the Revelators until May 31 of 1942, when the copy was frozen. Also, Jesus is referred to countless times throughout the text, as early as page 30, and 19 more times in the first hundred pages. Harold wrote in How to Know What to Believe that there were 92 Papers in all [p.61] — there are 196.⁴ Obviously Harold's recollections had grown fuzzy by 1976 (he was 78). But, there are more serious discrepancies between the Sherman Diary accounts and his How to Know What to Believe version of what took place.

In the How to Know What to Believe account Sherman says he was immediately concerned about the Urantia Papers as an investigator and an advocate of psychic phenomena, including astral projection, communication with the dead, numerology, astrology, and reincarnation. Sherman claims in How to Know What to Believe that he was disturbed that the Urantia Papers refuted such psychic concepts (to the point that the Papers describe them as "sordid"). He says he quickly sent a registered letter to Dr. Sadler virtually accusing him of withholding the truth and distorting the Urantia Papers because he claimed Sadler was "prejudiced" against psychic phenomena. Sherman's letter, the text of which is printed in How to Know What to Believe, actually warns Dr. Sadler that as "trusted custodian" of the Urantia Papers he would be held accountable in the centuries to come for his alteration of the text by withholding information on astral travel, communicating with the dead, reincarnation, and so forth.⁵ When his harsh letter was supposedly answered by only an angry temper tantrum from Dr. Sadler, Sherman says he joined with Clyde Bedell and other aggressive males in the Forum to challenge Sadler's domination of the Forum by submitting a petition.

This description of events is far a field from the events the Diaries describe in Volume Two. Aside from whether Sherman believed the Revelation at that time "without reservation" as is recorded in the Diaries, they also state that there were three letters sent by Sherman to Dr. Sadler prior to the upheaval. The first did ask some quite respectful questions about psychic phenomena [33-36]. This letter ends with a cordial: "These questions and comments are submitted in all respect and in all humility." The other two letters are also very mild, almost fawning, and question only the proposed organizational structure, and the plans for publicizing, advertising and distributing the Book after publication. The Diaries disclose that Dr. Sadler visited the Shermans after each of these two letters to answer them in person. There was a serious, courteous and detailed discussion between Sadler and Sherman about both organizational issues and publication plans. Sadler was open to suggestions about the publication of the Papers, but was completely unresponsive about organizational issues. Even so, there was no open animosity between the two. However, Loose writes Sherman suggesting that he must now aggressively confront Sadler: "Yes, you will make mistakes. Every prophet and seer, every holy man, without exception, from the beginning down to now has made them. You have not been an exception, and I have certainly not been an exception." [115]

In the middle of August, 1942, Sadler, Christy and the Shermans took a motor trip together to Marion, Ohio to fellowship with the Davises. Sherman brought up the organizational question on the way, and was supported by Christy. Although Sadler stood firm, the weekend trip went well. Dr. Sadler does not seem to suspect a thing. Out of earshot, Christy disclosed to Sherman that Dr. Sadler "will be terribly crushed" if and when he learned about the negative attitudes that existed in the Forum. On this weekend Sherman receives a "message" during his sleep that he attributes to celestial beings. It is titled: "Battle Plans for the Book of Urantia" and it passionately supports Harold's ideas for mass distribution of the Book with minimal organization. Harold takes this dream as the sign he had been waiting for. He writes Harry Loose on his return from Marion:

"As you see by the enclosed [Battle Plan for the Urantia Book, that] your letter was a confirmation thereof: 'Battle Plan for the Book of Urantia,' and you say fight —attack and attack and attack!

"Things are beginning to happen. I am receiving my instructions. This documents seems to me unanswerable. How can Sadler or any human stand against it? I am getting offers of support from prominent members of the Forum highly regarded by the Sadlers, which will shock them when they are confronted by these 'old faithfuls.'" [p. 121]

Indeed, things seem to be happening, and Dr. Sadler remains oblivious. Harold begins to marshal more and more support for reopening the discussion about organizational plans. He shows his Battle Plans for the Book of Urantia to several Forum Members, including the Kelloggs and their daughter Ruth. It was decided that a petition was in order, and Clyde Bedell was selected for the task of drawing it up. Meanwhile, Dr. Sadler, still unaware of the brewing problems, had a remarkable session with the Shermans in which he gave a detailed explanation of how the Urantia Papers were materialized. In this explanation he made it clear that no human name would ever be attached to The Urantia Book.

It should also be noted that in the account given in the Diaries about the Sherman Tempest (unlike the one in Sherman's 1976 book) at no time was the content of the Papers in question, the issue was who was to control, market and distribute the Papers. The challenging letter that Sherman claims he mailed Sadler, the one that is printed in How to Know What to Believe, is not even mentioned in Volume Two of the Diaries. It does not make an appearance until Volume Three, on April 7, 1943, over 6 months after the blowup in the Forum. [page 125] At that time, Harold wrote the letter in question, but did not send it to Sadler. He decided to send it to Harry Loose to get his opinion of its contents. Loose immediately replies, cautioning Sherman not to mail the letter to Dr. Sadler "at this time." On May 10, 1943, Sherman writes Loose and tells him he has filed the "proposed letter" away. [160] I can find no further mention of this letter in the Diaries. Also, immediately after the tempest in the Forum meeting (following the petition) Sherman sent an apologetic letter to Dr. Sadler. He included an affidavit that stated he had no commercial aspirations whatever about the Papers. He writes: "I have no interest, desire or intention of challenging your authority…" Sherman ended his letter with: "We all have our human faults. I have mine. Will you forgive me those as I forgive yours?"

An interesting sidelight emerges. Harry Loose receives a copy of Battle Plans for the Book of Urantia, and immediately warns Sherman not to represent it as a celestial message, and that it was meant for Sherman alone. This puts Sherman in an awkward spot, since he has already shared it and implied to some people that it "came through" as a message from on high. He never discloses this indiscretion to Loose. In my judgment, The Sherman Diaries are a much more reliable record than either Sherman's book or Clyde's rebuttal of what took place in the Forum in the fateful month of May, 1942.

The PETITION and the AFTERMATH

Clyde Bedell completed a final draft of a four-page petition, written in the form of a letter, on behalf of the other Forum members. At a final secret meeting, he presented it to about twenty Forum members, mostly couples. In this letter, Clyde wrote a long, cautious preamble praising Dr. Sadler, and then made his point:

"We believe the Forum people as a group should turn with the most earnest effort toward the consideration and development of as much sound groundwork as is possible in all the practical aspects of this Book's future. Respectfully, but most earnestly, we request an opportunity to know all the facts in connection with, and all the provisions concerning, the Urantia Book and the proposed associated organization as their plans exist today.

"To this date, no group opportunity has been offered to study, to freely discuss or to examine charters, articles of incorporation, by-laws, etcetera, of the several contemplated organizations. To this date, earnest Forum members, many with sound experience, judgment and ability, have had no opportunity for frank and full expression of opinions based on familiarity with these organization plans which have been brought to elaborated state by the Contact Commissioners and outside aides.

"We believe legal talent is justifiably used in formulating certain instruments which implement the Urantia Book plans. But we do not feel that Forum people should be excluded from full and complete understanding of all instruments identified with the Book for which we have a grave and undeniable responsibility as individuals."⁶

 Generally, the balance of this letter addressed the proposed structure of the "organizations that would protect the book's copyright, when it would be published, and its distribution."⁷ According to the Diaries, 48 members of the Forum eventually signed this petition.

Dr. Sadler was warned of the impending "revolt" early the next morning by a repentant couple who had attended the meeting. He was well prepared when the petition was formally presented to him several hours later. The Shermans then report that Dr. Sadler called the Forum members in, couple by couple, and told them the Midwayers had warned him of the meeting and had previously cautioned him about the Shermans. Sadler said the Midwayers had provided him a "television" image of the meeting. For the first time the name of Caligastia was brought up and inferred to be the instigator who was working through the Shermans. Each petitioner was told to remove his or her signature or be branded as rebels. All the petitioners were forbidden to contact the Shermans. A careful reading of Clyde's paper seems to reveal that Dr. Sadler may have said at least some of these things, but Clyde claims they were only said in jest.⁸ Whether they were or not, all 48 of the members immediately removed their names, with the exception of the Shermans and Sir Hubert Wilkins, who was out of town.

There followed an explosive Forum meeting in which Harold Sherman openly challenged the statements of Dr. Sadler relating to his and Martha's role in the petition. Clyde's account ends here; he wrote that he did not recall the Sherman's attending meetings after this confrontation.⁹ However, the Diaries are meticulously detailed, and are very persuasive that the Shermans did continue to attend meetings. Also, it seems clear that other members slowly began to contact the Shermans. The dissatisfaction about the organizational structures continued, and many members of the original Forum were never satisfied with the structure of the Foundation and the Brotherhood. Clyde Bedell was certainly one of them. However, in my judgment, the greatest damage that was done was to the Urantia movement by the manner in which the petition was handled. An inner circle was born, and it remains to this day at the heart of both the Foundation and the Fellowship. The stage was set for future "secret messages" and a parade of other "special people" who would be invited into an autocratic inner circle that presumed total authority over the Urantia Revelation. This, in my judgment, was the disastrous result of the "the shadow of a hair's turning" by Dr. Sadler so long ago.

However, I must add that Harold's 1976 book is misleading. His passion and devotion to the Urantia Papers in the early years are papered over. At this point I remain convinced that, in spite of his errors in handling the petition of the Forum, Dr. Sadler protected the original text of the Revelation. Whatever may have been Dr. Sadler's human foibles, I do not believe he made changes in the Urantia Revelation. Some will no doubt see this differently. Readers must weigh the available facts and judge for themselves. I highly recommend those interested read The Sherman Diaries for themselves. They are an utterly fascinating window into one of the most remarkable episodes in human history.

Nearly all agree that authentic (though limited) Revelator contacts continued until the publication of The Urantia Book in 1955, after which the Revelators signed off with a curt: "You are now on your own." When the plates were being prepared in 1942, the Midwayers apparently allowed human events to take their course, however, it is not plausible that they would permit human contamination of the Urantia Papers while they continued to direct the steps to their eventual publication in late 1955. To date, no one who believes Dr. Sadler corrupted the Revelation has satisfactorily explained why the Revelators did not simply pull the plug on the project. Throughout 1942, until his death in the fall of 1943, Harry Loose kept his relentless fueling of Sherman's growing doubts, continually lamenting the supposed "removal" of his strange "hybrid" concept, and telling Sherman what a great man he was destined to become. Yet, in his later letters about the Urantia Papers, Sherman's greatest gripe seemed to be against the Jesus Papers. Although he has nothing but praise for them in the early parts of the Diaries, by 1976 it seemed he gradually came to believe they were added by Sadler to tie the Revelation to the Christian religion. Nearly all students of The Urantia Book see it as a great cosmic framework for a restatement of the Life and Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. In How to Know What to Believe, Sherman lamented the litigations of Urantia Foundation against readers of The Urantia Book and stated the whole project was a failure. He became enthralled with Oahspe, a book he came to believe was vastly superior to the Urantia Papers. It is probable that Harold Sherman never imagined the Diaries would be published. Martha Sherman made that decision after his death.

In my judgment, we are left to muse not over the supposed "corruption" of the Papers, but rather about the human folly after the text was frozen, folly that would continue after their publication. As we shall see, The Urantia organizations were formed much as Dr. Sadler, Bill Sadler, and several attorneys had designed them. Soon after the publication of The Urantia Book, Bill and his father would have a falling out, splitting the Chicago group into two societies. Bill's dream of a democratic Brotherhood would never come to be, and eventually there would be a split between the Brotherhood and the Foundation that has never healed. I cannot help but wonder what would have happened if Harold Sherman and Clyde Bedell had gotten their way, back in those early golden days when Sherman referred to Dr. Sadler as having "as sweet a personality as we have ever met." Clyde and Harold wanted the Papers promoted and mass-distributed at little or no cost. They both believed the people could decide the truth for themselves, and that it was not necessary to have a formal organization between the people and their revelation.

Proofreading the Urantia Papers

By mid-1942, activities were in motion to prepare the Urantia Papers for printing. The meticulously prepared and studied Urantia manuscript would now have to be typeset and carefully proofed before it could be plated and printed in book form. The manuscript copy had probably been cleansed of nearly all spelling, capitalization and punctuation errors. (As we know, the Contact Commission was only permitted to standardize spelling, capitalization, and punctuation, and was not permitted to make editorial changes.¹⁰) If, in those days, the Contact Commission had the benefit of computer technology, the pre-publication task would have been relatively simple. Christy would have prepared a disk from her computer and handed it to the printer. The type would have been automatically set and a proof generated. Christy would have been required to deal with basic formatting questions.

How different was the situation in the Forties! When Christy handed the precious manuscript of The Urantia Book to the publisher, R.R. Donnelley & Sons, the arduous process of setting type, proofing, correcting, and reproofing began. Every word, every line, and every page of that manuscript had to be completely retyped by a monotype operator, then cast in hot metal type and assembled on a galley. A proof was then "pulled" (printed) from the galley and this was checked by a professional proofreader against the original manuscript. Once the proofreader was satisfied, the proof was submitted to the client for final approval.¹¹

It is important that the client's final OK be very carefully considered and truly final, before the plates were etched. Otherwise, a significant operation would be required to make even a small correction on a cast plate, or a major correction would require the entire plate to be recast. Casting a plate was a complex and costly process that, in the case of a book, usually involved a large number of pages at the same time. Bill Sadler, Jr. stated in his tape of February 18, 1962, that a plate included one side of 16 sheets (a sheet consisted of two pages) of The Urantia Book and these 16 sides were printed simultaneously. This corresponds with the information I have acquired from two retired Donnelley employees. After the client had signed-off approval, an impression of the original galley of the page was used to create a mold. Then, hot metal was poured in. The actual curved plate was formed so that it could be used on the rotary press. Once the final plate was cast, the original flat galley of type was "dumped," and the metal then used for new typesetting.

To produce a book that is a flawless, word for word duplicate of the manuscript, perfectly punctuated, is a difficult task with an ordinary book and sophisticated clients. In the case of The Urantia Book's manuscript, over one million words were involved. In addition, this enormous work included many coined words not in the English language and featured numerous long and complex sentences. The Urantians would discover that the process of book publishing is far more complex than correcting typed manuscripts.

One of the most difficult problems with clients less knowledgeable about the printing process is what advertising people call the "halo effect." The typeset page-proof looks so beautiful, especially after reading an ordinary typewritten page for years and years, it's difficult for an untrained eye to see the mistakes. But, the cold hard facts were: the accuracy of the printed Urantia Book could be no better than the final proofing process, regardless of how carefully the original manuscript had been prepared.

In January of 1939, Marian Rowley joined the Forum. She recalls reading the Papers in the original typed manuscript form.¹² The manuscript of the Urantia Papers could be read by Forum members only at 533 Diversey Parkway. There were several typed copies there, and individuals could sign out one Paper at a time and read them on the premises. They were permitted to read before the meeting on Sunday or during business hours and evenings on weekdays. The Papers were kept in a vault and were administered by the Contact Commission.¹³

We may assume the initial proofing process (prior to casting) went on for a considerable time. We are told that Mary Penn, an employee of the Donnelley Company, was the professional who proofread the Papers on site at 533. If she had a question, she could consult with the Contact Commission.¹⁴ However, the job of a professional proofreader is primarily to supply the client with an accurate proof, the client is responsible for the final adjustments and corrections. The proofreader carefully compares the galley proof with the manuscript, marks corrections, and returns it to the typesetter. The typesetter makes the corrections and prints a new proof. There is no technical limit to the number of proofs that can be corrected and printed, but printing professionals are generally expert at this process, and one or two proofs are usually sufficient.

The responsibility for corrections

Once the proofreader is satisfied, a fresh proof is prepared and supplied to the client. That fresh proof is not considered final until the client decides it is perfect. New proofs are generated until the client is satisfied and signs off on a final proof, and no plating will take place until this signed proof is in the hands of the printer. There is a subtle pressure on the client, because until a proof is given final approval the plate cannot be cast, and the galley of type cannot be dumped and the metal reused. A large number of idle galleys of type awaiting final client approval represent a substantial investment on the part of the printer.

Even so, the responsibility for the final proofs lies with the client — in this case the Contact Commission. Probably the task was primarily on the shoulders of Christy, assisted by Marian Rowley, whom many considered the best proofreader at 533.¹⁵

The plates are cast

Carolyn Kendall states that the plates for The Urantia Book were cast sometime during World War II. If this is accurate, the final proofs were made, the Commissioners signed off, and the plates were cast by the mid-Forties. We know that, at some point in the plate-casting process, the typed manuscripts were destroyed. The plates were etched, cast, and placed in a vault in the R.R. Donnelley plant in Crawfordsville, Indiana. So, as 1945 drew to a close, the only remaining material manifestations of four decades of the revelatory process were the plates and the galley proofs of The Urantia Book that had been made from those plates.

However, Carolyn also writes that informal proofing continued after the plates had been cast. She states that the "final galley sheets read by the Forum in the late 1940s and early 1950s were stamped 'Proofed by Oppy'."¹⁶ Once the plates were cast and the original typed manuscripts destroyed, there was no longer any means of checking them to verify what were later to be termed "copying errors." We are informed by Carolyn Kendall that these final galley proofs indeed contained "errors" (and so obviously did the plates), but we are not told what kind of errors:

"When the book was published by Urantia Foundation on October 12, 1955, it was not portrayed to be error-free. The multiple processes of transcribing from handwritten manuscript to typewritten pages; the retyping of these pages two to five times; and from typewritten to typeset form, presented opportunities for errors to creep into the papers which were not caught by even two professional proof readings. By publication day, Christy and Marian had already collected a list of errors noticed by sharp-eyed Forum members. The midwayers did not volunteer the location of errors, just that there were errors in the published text."¹⁷

This paragraph both raises questions and supplies possible clues to their answers. Let us begin with the assumption that the typewritten manuscript was satisfactory to the Revelators, else they would not have decided that the Revelation was complete and it was time to prepare to print the book. The earlier process of transcribing from the original handwritten document to the typewritten pages, and the number of times it was subsequently retyped, may have resulted in copying errors. However, the final manuscript was evidently acceptable to the Revelators.

Errors in The Urantia Book

Only the final manuscript was used by the typesetter, and the final typesetting was professionally proofed against this manuscript. If errors existed in this terminal manuscript, as stated, they apparently were not reported to the Contact Commissioners by the Revelators. At least, there is no documentation or testimony I know of to that effect. We can also reasonably assume that the manuscript itself was evidence that — with the consent of the Revelators — the Urantia Papers had entered the evolutionary mainstream. This is very important. That meant human involvement, and human involvement means errors will be made.

We can reasonably deduce that the Revelators were weaning the humans from their control and guidance. The Revelators seemed to be more and more restricted as to their own involvement — thus, perhaps, they could respond to questions about errors in the printed Book but were not permitted to reveal where they were.

We can further assume that any errors were not a threat to the general integrity of the Revelation, and that there had been no intentional human corruption of the Urantia Papers. Otherwise, the celestial Revelatory Commission would surely have stepped in and either made adjustments or pulled the plug on the entire operation.

By following this logic we are led to the conclusion that the pre-publication "errors" Carolyn refers to were issues about punctuation, spelling, and capitalization. James Mills, Ph.D., who had been closely associated with the Revelation since 1951, was a Field Representative for Urantia Brotherhood, and who served as a Urantia Foundation Trustee and Trustee Emeritus for many years, wrote this comment in 1991:

"... prior to publication, Forum members, engaged in reading the first proof sheets made from the original metallic plates, were constantly seeking primarily for typographical errors including punctuation, errors of grammar, syntax, or any other errors which could occur in the process of the transference of a text from manuscript through the linotype procedure into metal printing plates. Apparently, the most potent source of error would lie at the point of the linotype operator."¹⁸

This commentary indicates the prevailing mind-set of the culture at 533 was that the linotype operator was somehow responsible for the mistakes that were overlooked by the Contact Commission during the proofing process. Also, a strong preoccupation with minor typos is implied. What were to be later called editorial "copying errors" could not have been verified because the source manuscripts had been destroyed. And now we confront a key question. Why did the Revelators order the original manuscript destroyed once the plates were made? Conventional human wisdom would surely dictate that the manuscript should be preserved to verify any concerns about copying errors.

The Revelators did not want human input

The Revelators knew human nature. We can reasonably assume that the Revelators knew that typographical errors and apparent inconsistencies existed in the plates. Again: the Revelators were evidently not so concerned that they felt these errors were threatening to the essence of the Revelation. However, once the plates were cast, there were now two versions of the text: the manuscript and the plates. The Revelators knew the manuscript would be the "final authority" used to verify this or that word or statement. They also knew this would create a singular "sacred document" in the hands of a small group of people. They were aware that the process of "correcting" the plates would be endless, and the door to human opinions and human meddling, once opened, could never be closed. Better to destroy the manuscript immediately, live with the flawed plates, and let human wisdom deal with the anomalies that were certain to be discovered later. These points are emphasized because of events that occurred before the second printing. We will examine these in the next chapter.

The few points in the text where there were possible editorial inconsistencies would not be unearthed until sharp-eyed readers eventually discovered them. Had the Contact Commissioners known about the inconsistencies, surely they would have asked about them and would have sought permission to remake the problem plates in 1950 — prior to the establishment of the Declaration of Trust — when the text was officially transferred and became the responsibility of Urantia Foundation. These editiorial "corrections" would have required word and number changes and deletions, but at that time the Midwayer Revelatory Commission was available and could have readily been consulted by the five remaining Contact Commissioners. It would have been a bit expensive to make these corrections and re-plate some of the pages in 1950, but it would have been worth the time and trouble. As it was, when the plates were made and the manuscripts destroyed, the plates became the original text. The plates are so defined in Urantia Foundation's Declaration of Trust — and they were used to publish the original text in book form in 1955. 10,000 published copies of the Book and the plates were in precise agreement, and there was no other text.

Thus the list of "errors" that had been collected over a ten-year period by press time, the ones Christy told Carolyn Kendall about, were very likely limited to spelling, punctuation, and capitalization errors. These may have been embarrassing, but obviously the Commissioners considered these typos less than critical. As it was, the Contact Commission proceeded to use the plates as the basis for establishing Urantia Foundation, formulating the Declaration of Trust, and printing the Book. However, as we shall later examine, when the second printing was worked on in 1967, the apparent inconsistencies in the text were important enough to agonize over, and finally "correct."

We can reasonably postulate that the Revelators directed, or gave permission to, the Contact Commission to take the necessary steps to have the plates cast in the early Forties. As previously stated, the Revelators must have known of any problems in the text at the time this was done.

However, the Revelators' grant of permission to the Contact Commission to make any standardizations in punctuation, spelling, and capitalization was NOT extended to Urantia Foundation through the Declaration of Trust.

The Revelators could probably anticipate that once the Book was exposed to thousands of readers, the possible inconsistencies would eventually be uncovered. Then the problem of reconciling them would have to be addressed by evolutionary human wisdom.

No one could have done better

Having very carefully examined the facts, I hasten to add that the devotion and commitment of the Contact Commissioners, and especially Christy, could hardly have been surpassed in producing the 1955 text. Even under ideal conditions, with very sophisticated experts involved, it would have been impossible, in my judgment, to produce a perfect book. It was probably never intended that humans would produce a perfect book. Some of the inconsistencies that eventually emerged could hardly have been detected until thousands of people began to have years of experience reading the Book.

 Why not a perfect book?

Some have argued that the Revelators could have simply by-passed the humans and given us a perfect book. This idea is one that should be dealt with. Some take lightly the idea that Urantians might begin to worship their Urantia Book. Many Christians, in fact, do not know that the Muslim counterpart to Jesus is not Mohammed, but the "glorious Koran."

Muslims believe in Inlibration, the embodiment of God in the Koran itself. The reverence that Christians feel toward Jesus is what Muslims feel toward their book. The uncreated, or eternal Koran has become a pillar of the Muslim faith. In other words, the Koran itself is thought to be eternal, and was handed, complete and perfect, to Mohammed by God. Bloody wars have been fought over the centuries to preserve this prevailing dogma. Today, the religion of Islam rests firmly upon Inlibration - or the divine "made book."¹⁹

Make no mistake, the 1955 printing of The Urantia Book, warts and all, is an epochal masterpiece. But because it had entered into the evolutionary mainstream, the 1955 printing was, of course, a flawed masterpiece (as are all achievements in which humans have a part).

The Contact Commissioners and the Forum had gone through an extremely difficult test of time, and had, to the best of their human abilities, helped bring to this planet a new Revelation "exactly as they had received it."²⁰ And one of the things this new Epochal Revelation tells us is that all revelation - short of the presence of God, our Paradise Father - is limited and incomplete. (1008 – par. 2).

Perhaps, from the perspective of an onlooking universe, what the Midwayers accomplished in bringing the Urantia Revelation to our forlorn, backward, and strife-driven planet was a unique achievement, even by the standards of celestial excellence. After two thousand years, the planet of Urantia, the "sentimental shrine of Michael," glimmered once more with new hope as the manuscript of the Fifth Epochal Revelation was at last etched into nickel-plated stereotype plates.

Changes made to the original text

Before we continue with the chronological events associated with the Urantia Revelation, the reader should be informed that the complete set of original plates were used for only one printing of The Urantia Book. After the 1955 printing of 10,000 copies, changes were made to the text. Apparently the bulk of these alterations were institued in an effort to "correct" what were later termed "copying errors" by Urantia Foundation. Over the years, various isolated Urantians began discovering these changes. But, in those pre-internet years, Urantians were rarely able to compare notes. In fact, before the advent of computers, it was very difficult to develop a complete list of the editorial changes that were made after the first printing of the book.

In the early nineties, Merritt Horn, a scholar in Boulder, Colorado, began to use computer technology to compare the first printing of The Urantia Book, page by page, with the then-current 1993 printing. This is an extremely slow, tedious, and costly process. Mr. John Hay, a devoted Urantian, financed the historic investigation. Merritt found that over 120 changes to the text had been made since the 1955 printing. Setting aside for the moment the question of the authority of Urantia Foundation to change the original text at all, most of the changes were typographical in nature. Most did not affect the passages in which they were found. However, approximately fifteen changes clearly involved significant editorial latitude, and included word and number alterations as well as deletions.

Merritt then began to search the various printings to see when the consequential editorial changes were made. He verified that nearly all of them were made in the second and third printings. Although none of the editorial changes seriously affected the essential content of the Book, many veteran readers were shocked when Merritt's findings began to surface. His work confirmed and expanded earlier lists of purported changes that had been compiled by alert readers over the years.

Some readers have asserted that Urantia Foundation's Declaration of Trust forbids any changes whatsoever, not even spelling, capitalization, and punctuation changes. These readers were also disturbed by the fact that they had not been informed, and that none of the editorial changes were footnoted or endnoted. In fact, readers had been told by Urantia Foundation for more than twenty years that no such changes had been made. (See the letter of Trustee Emeritus James Mills, Appendix B.) Another disturbing fact was that the great majority of the changes seemed arbitrary, unnecessary, or simply wrong. Many of these, such as the deletion of the words "in the manger" on page 1317, have been discussed at length elsewhere. Here is a very abbreviated list of Merritt's findings of editorial changes. (This list includes only a brief description of the key changes. See Appendix D for a more complete exposition of Merritt's work, and an exploration of some of the issues involved if these problems are to be resolved.)

Key editorial changes in the text

FOREWORD:

[1]. Page 3: In #5 of listing of perfection types, the word "other" was removed from all printings after 1955. The 1967 version corrects the ungrammatical use of the word "other" which was probably inserted by a typist who inadvertently followed the previous pattern of usage in the list.

PART II:

[2]. On page 413, par. 6: The 1955 printing varies from all later printings in that it has the word "secondary," where all others read "tertiary." While both a secondary and a tertiary Circuit Supervisor are assigned to the supervision of a single local universe's circuits, only the tertiary Circuit Supervisor is located on the local universe headquarters sphere; the secondary Circuit Supervisor is located on the superuniverse headquarters. (See page 265). Therefore, "tertiary Universe Circuit Supervisor" does appear to be the correct description of Andovontia.

[3]. On page 460, par. 1: The 1955 edition states "sixty thousand times as dense as your sun" while the second and subsequent printings have been changed to "forty thousand." Textual consistency does require "forty," since page 459 (Section 4, par. 1) states that our sun is about 1.5 times the density of water, or about .054 pounds per cubic inch, and 40,000 times this is about 2,160 pounds per cubic inch (which is also equivalent to 60,000 times the density of water).

[4]. On page 474, par. 5: The 1955 edition placed a capital "Y" here, it was replaced by "gamma" in all later printings. It is likely that the Greek letter gamma (was mistakenly transposed into an English "Y" at some point in the proofing and preparation of the text for printing.

[5]. On page 477, par. 1: Two changes from the 1955 edition were made in all subsequent printings. In the original, "less" was changed to "more," and "from two to three" was changed to "almost two:" "Each atom is a trifle over 1/100,000,000th of an inch in diameter, while an electron weighs a little (less) (changed to "more") than 1/2,000th of the smallest atom, hydrogen. The positive proton, characteristic of the atomic nucleus, while it may be no larger than a negative electron, weighs (from two to three) (changed to "almost two") thousand times more." The revised wording is more consistent with the statement in the paragraph following the subject paragraph (page 477), where the author states that a proton is "eighteen hundred times as heavy as an electron." This is also in accord with current scientific opinion which places the ratio at 1: 1,836.

[6]. On page 478, par 3: In all printings after the first, "well-nigh" was placed before "instantaneous." It is unclear how this addition would correct an earlier error.

[7]. On page 486, par 5: The 1955 printing reads "four thousand years," in all subsequent printings, "four" was changed to "forty." Forty thousand years does appear to be correct (see page 1316, section 7, par. 2).

[8]. On page 608, par 4: In the second (1967) and following printings, "681,227" was changed to "681,217," presumably because of the reference on page 581: "Since the inception of the system of Satania, thirteen Planetary Adams have been lost in rebellion and default and 681,204 in the subordinate positions of trust." It does appear that one of the numbers is in error, but whether 681,227 should be reduced to 681,217, or 681,204 should be increased to 681,214 is not apparent from the text.

PART III:

[9]. P.806 - par. 2: In the 1967 printing, in the following sentence the word "sometime" was changed to "sometimes": "In the ideal state, education continues throughout life, and philosophy sometime becomes the chief pursuit of its citizens. The citizens of such a commonwealth pursue wisdom as an enhancement of insight into the significance of human relations, the meanings of reality, the nobility of values, the goals of living, and the glories of cosmic destiny." From a typographical standpoint, this is a minor change. However, the meaning of the text is dramatically altered from a confident statement of the evolution of the ideal state in the original text, to the acknowledgement of a mere possibility in later printings.

[10]. On page 827, par. 3: In the second (1967) and succeeding printings, "between" was changed to "among." The original is correct because "between" can appropriately be used when more than two objects are related, especially if the relationship is to each object individually rather than in an indeterminate way to the group. The relationship is the division of time between world capitals; it is immaterial that there are more than two capitals involved.

[11]. On page 883, par. 7: The 1955 printing placed "west" at this location rather than "east." Because the term did not appear to be a title for the western hemisphere, "east" has been used in all subsequent printings.

[12]. On page 1317, par. 2: The phrase "in the manger" was deleted in the second and all subsequent printings, leaving the sentence: "These men of God visited the newborn child." This change was probably made because Mary and Joseph moved into a room at the inn on the day after Jesus' birth, and the priests did not arrive in Bethlehem until Jesus was three weeks old. So the "editor" may have presumed that it would not have been possible for the priests to see Jesus "in the manger." However, cradles may have not been easy to come by. Merritt Horn points out that, assuming the manger was portable, it is possible that Joseph and Mary might have taken the manger with them up to the room in the inn in order to continue to have a cradle for Jesus.

PART IV.

[13]. On page 1363, par. 5: In the second and following printings, the line "Far to the east they could discern the Jordan valley and, far beyond, the rocky hills of Moab." was changed to: "Far to the east they could discern the Jordan valley and far beyond lay the rocky hills of Moab." After the Book was in print, a letter from a Biblical scholar named Benjamin Adams pointed out that: "...the rocky hills of Moab were not east of Nazareth but east of the dead Sea." (One Urantian has reported this letter claimed that it is impossible to see the rocky hills of Moab from the location in question. If one troubles to read this letter, this is clearly not what Adams challenged. See Appendix B for a replication of the Adam's letter.) The change avoids the implication that the rocky hills of Moab are east of Nazareth. However, Merritt Horn points out that, in his judgment, the text itself does not state the hills of Moab are east of Nazareth. He writes: "Jesus and his father are standing on top of the Nazareth hill and are moving their gaze from the northwest around an arc to the north, east, south and then west. To the east is the Jordan valley. As they look past the valley, following its line and the arc of their survey, they discern the rocky hills of Moab. That this analysis is correct is supported by the sentence that follows: 'Also to the south and east...' which clearly implies the last referenced location (Moab) was in the same direction. Otherwise, the sentence would be punctuated with a comma in this manner: 'Also, to the south and east...'."

[14]. On page 1849, par. 5: The 1955 text stated that Lazarus remained at Bethany "until the day of the crucifixion of Jesus." This was changed to "until the week..." in the second printing. The latter reading is consistent with the later narrative (at pages 1897 par. 1, 1909 last par., and 1927 last par.) which would place the time of Lazarus's flight between Tuesday at midnight (when his death was decreed by the Sanhedrin) and Wednesday evening (when "certain ones" at the camp "knew that Lazarus had taken hasty flight from Bethany") - two days before the crucifixion of Jesus.

[15]. On page 1943, par. 2: In the second printing, "apostles" was substituted for the original "twelve" at this point. Because Judas had left earlier, there were only eleven apostles present for the establishment of the remembrance supper, so "apostles" seems more appropriate.

Changes not footnoted or endnoted

 To repeat, it is reasonable to concede that none of these editorial changes constitute malicious tampering or a measurable alteration of the Urantia Revelation. However, many Urantians believe the spirit and intent of the Declaration of Trust forbids an alteration of any kind to the original text. In addition, to many readers it remains a mystery that Urantia Foundation never alerted the reader to these changes through footnotes or endnotes. This is standard academic practice when making changes to the creative work of another author. Readers point out that in the case of an Epochal Revelation authored by celestial beings, common sense dictates that it should be mandatory. This issue has been dismissed by some supporters of Urantia Foundation as making a "fetish" out of the text of the Urantia Papers. We will examine this question in depth in Chapter Nine.

The timing of publication

By May of 1942, permission had been granted by the Revelators to the Contact Commission to prepare for printing but not, as yet, to actually publish The Urantia Book. In the next chapter we will continue to follow the course of the Revelation as it is finally published as a book.

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Footnotes

^1. LETTER FROM CLYDE BEDELL TO WILFRED KELLOGG, OCTOBER, 1933. This letter can be examined on the Fellowship website: From Clyde to Wilfred

^2. HISTORY OF THE URANTIA MOVEMENT ONE, by a Group of Urantian Pioneers, assisted by Members of the Contact Commission, 1960, page 6. [See "History of the Urantia Movement" (one)]

^3. David Kantor reports that it was his understanding that once the contract was signed for the production of the plates, the Contact Commission was told that there would be no more questions tendered and the work of the Forum in this regard was finished. It continued on only as a Sunday study group, although many members continued to refer to the group as the "Forum" and themselves as "members." Until The Urantia Book was published, new members of the Sunday study group also preferred to identify themselves as "Forum" members, even though the Forum as such ceased to exist on May 31, 1942.

^4. HOW TO KNOW WHAT TO BELIEVE, by Harold Sherman, Fawcett, New York, 1976, pp. 66-67. On pages 70-72 Sherman gives an account of Thought Adjusters that is totally inaccurate. He also questions why the Jesus Papers were added, when the book "made no mention of Jesus as such?" (Recall that at the time he met Dr. Sadler, about July of 1941, the text was virtually completed. Within ten months — about the time Sherman and his wife actually began to read the Papers — the manuscript would be frozen and deemed ready to typeset). Sherman's hasty reading failed to detect that, as previously stated, Jesus is mentioned in The Urantia Book as early as page 30, and 20 additional times before we reach page 100. Michael is mentioned on page 8 as "Christ Michael--Son of Man and Son of God, and 16 additional times before page 100!) [See "Pipeline to God," page 66 of "How to Know What to Believe]

Harold Sherman's book was a principle source of information used by Martin Gardner in his own book "Urantia - The Great Cult Mystery," which was an unfortunate blanket rejection of any possibility the Urantia Papers have revelatory content. Gardner's chapter on his two key sources, Sherman and Harry Loose, (pages 135-160), has to be read to appreciate how far a field these men's "psychic" ideas were. Gardner also used information he gathered from Sherman's widow, Martha Sherman. Gardner, who rejected and ridiculed information from esteemed Urantians like Dr. Sprunger, reports without comment Harold Sherman's "out-of-body" trips to Jupiter with a scientologist, and Harry Loose's ability to make a handkerchief fly from a dresser into his hand several feet away. (This was reported to Gardner by Martha Sherman, page 139.)

Gardner reports on pages 149-150 of accusations by Kellogg's daughter that Sherman had asked her to steal the plates of The Urantia Book so he could copyright it as the author and make a movie of it. (The plates were stored in an R. R. Donnelley & Sons vault in Crawfordsville, Indiana). He tells of a letter from Loose to Sherman in which Loose praises a new book of Sherman's: "The Dead are Alive" as a "masterpiece." Gardner discloses that Sherman described his first meeting with Loose as the "most inspiring" hours of his life. Finally, Gardner closes his chapter by publishing a final letter written by Sherman to Dr. Sadler. The letter was filled with bizarre accusations and rhetorical questions. Gardner solemnly reports that "there is no evidence" that Dr. Sadler replied to the letter. (The Sherman Diaries indicate that this letter was never sent). On page 407 of his book Gardner tells us that a letter from ex-policeman Loose to Sherman speculated that the death of Dr. Lena Sadler had caused "something to happen" to Dr. Sadler's personality. (Loose may have been a psychiatric patient of Dr. Sadler, as Gardner reports on page 136). Finally, Gardner tells us on page 407 that his own "dear wife" thought his book, "Urantia, the Great Cult Mystery," was a "total waste" of his energies.

^5. The text of this letter (according to Sherman) is recorded on pages 73 – 75 in HOW TO KNOW WHAT TO BELIEVE, by Harold Sherman, Fawcett, New York, 1976. [See "Pipeline to God," page 73 of "How to Know What to Believe]

^6. CLYDE BEDELL'S 1942 PETITION, page two. The letter or petition in its entirety can be examined on the fellowship website: here.

^7. A RESPONSE TO A THINLY DISGUISED ATTACK ON THE URANTIA BOOK by Clyde Bedell, a paper dated September 5, 1976 pp. 2-9. We do not know the specifics about the proposed structure of the organizations mentioned in Clyde's account. In this paper he expresses his own disagreement with an oligarchcal lifetime tenure of Foundation Trustees (page 15). He continued to oppose this structure until his death. Regarding commercial motives, Clyde points out that "no one, neither Dr. Sadler nor his family, nor any Urantians to my knowledge, have ever made profit from the Urantia Book" (page 9). Clyde follows this comment with this statement: "Even today, the frugal Foundation is largely supported by Urantian contributors, so the Book can continue to be sold at a price that makes it one of the greatest book bargains on Earth."

In subsequent years, general contributions dwindled, and the financial base of Urantia Foundation shifted to a few wealthy contributors and to the Book itself. The price of The Urantia Book soared. Clyde strongly opposed these price increases, and began referring to the Book as a "rich man's Bible." The price remained high until 1995, when Pathways published an exact replica of the 1955 printing and sold it for less than one-fourth the price of a Foundation printing. The Foundation responded with a competitive price reduction. Today Urantia Foundation is believed to be almost totally supported by revenues from Book sales and the personal donations of the Trustees themselves. [See Clyde's "A Response to a Thinly Disguised Attack on The Urantia Book"]

^8. A RESPONSE TO A THINLY DISGUISED ATTACK ON THE URANTIA BOOK by Clyde Bedell, a paper dated September 5, 1976 page 13. [See "Pipeline to God," page 85 of "How to Know What to Believe]

^9. HOW TO KNOW WHAT TO BELIEVE, by Harold Sherman, Fawcett, New York, 1976, page 85. [See Clyde's "A Response to a Thinly Disguised Attack on The Urantia Book"]

^10. COMMENTARY ON THE ORIGIN OF THE URANTIA BOOK by Meredith Sprunger, 6/13/91, page 5. [See "A Commentary on the Origin of The Urantia Book"]

Also HISTORY TWO, prepared by a Contact Commissioner, undated, page 24. [See A History of The Urantia Movement (Two)]

^11. I drew supplementary information for the printing processes of the time from a 1958 edition of The World Book Encyclopedia. I also interviewed two retired gentlemen from the original Donnelley Company plant in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Both men, a Mr. Krohn and a Bart Paddock, live in Crawfordsville. Krohn was a press supervisor and Paddock a plate department manager at the time of the second printing. Both men agreed the M-1000 press would have been used to print The Urantia Book. It was a huge old German press. I also interviewed Dr. Sprunger's son-in-law, Greg Young (now a minister), who worked on the M-1000 Press in 1969, a year or so after the second printing. Greg, a reader of the Book, said he understood the press had been used to print The Urantia Book before his arrival. Greg said it was also used to print Reader's Digest Condensed Books (as well as the magazine). Both Krohn and Paddock had made the same observation. Greg also commented that the M-1000 was also used to print The World Book Encyclopedia. It so happened that I had acquired a 1958 edition of The World Book Encyclopedia over ten years ago in Oklahoma for a couple of dollars, purely as a curiosity. That set of books stayed with me, and has proven very valuable in explaining the press methods of the circa 1955 period. By remarkable coincidence, The World Book Encyclopedia mentions, in its article on printing, that one of the printing methods presented was the same as had been used in printing the encyclopedia itself. After talking to Greg, I looked again at the pages in the encyclopedia, which featured several photographs of printing methods, a pressman, platemaking and so on. In small print below the photos was the credit: "R. R. Donnelley & Sons, Co." Also see Chapter Nine.

^12. The PLAN FOR THE URANTIA BOOK REVELATION, by Carolyn B. Kendall, Paper distributed January 18, 1996, page 4. [The Plan for The Urantia Book Revelation]

^13. POSTING by URANTIA FOUNDATION on their website in 1999, under the title Setting the Record Straight [This link doesn't work and I couldn't find the document on the Urantia.org site. GBA]: "The last typescript, which probably had a number of errors, was destroyed after the text was plated, cross-checked and believed to be free of mistakes." The syntax of this statement is somewhat strange, in that the procedure should logically have been "cross-checked, believed free of mistakes, and plated." There is no reason given for the assumption that the original text probably had a "number of errors." It had been read and checked over by the Forum for several years. In addition, the text had been destroyed after the plates were made; there was no way to establish whether or not the manuscript used by the typesetter was the source of what was later believed to be errors.

^14. The PLAN FOR THE URANTIA BOOK REVELATION, by Carolyn B. Kendall, Paper distributed January 18, 1996, page 5. [The Plan for The Urantia Book Revelation]

^15. Meredith Sprunger, personal letter to me, September, 1999.

^16. The PLAN FOR THE URANTIA BOOK REVELATION, by Carolyn B. Kendall, Paper distributed January 18, 1996, pp. 4 - 5. "Proofed by Oppy" may be a typographical error in Carolyn's paper. It may have referred to "Poppy," which was Christy's favorite name for Dr. Sadler. [The Plan for The Urantia Book Revelation]

^17. The PLAN FOR THE URANTIA BOOK REVELATION, by Carolyn B. Kendall, Paper distributed January 18, 1996, page 5. Carolyn discloses that this information was obtained verbally from Christy. Carolyn's comments are very similar to the comments by a "second generation Urantian" posted by Urantia Foundation on their website in mid 1999 under: "Setting the Record Straight" point #7. [The Plan for The Urantia Book Revelation]

^18. Letter from Trustee Emeritus James Mills to Ken and Betty Glasziou, March 5, 1991. Mills' comment that: "Apparently, the most potent source of error would lie at the point of the linotype operator" was imprecise and misleading, but apparently was what he was told. The ultimate responsibility for errors and typos lies with the client. A "press proof" is always provided the client so one final check can be made of the copy before it is etched and cast as a plate. See Appendix B for a complete text of this letter. [See reproduction of this letter in its entirety]

^19. THE CREATORS by Daniel J. Boorstin, Random House, New York, 1992, pp. 63-64.

^20. (REFERENCE CHAPTER FOUR). HISTORY TWO, prepared by a Contact Commissioner, undated, page 24. Dr. Meredith Sprunger has repeatedly stated that Dr. Sadler was emphatic that there was no human editing of the 1955 printing. (See Affidavit, pp 316-320). Clyde Bedell told me he would stake his life on it, and his wife Florence was equally convinced of the integrity of the first printing. Kristen Maaherra and Eric Schaveland also collected several dozen supporting comments from various sources and submitted them as exhibits for the defense in nearly ten years of litigation instituted against them by Urantia Foundation. Here are a few excerpts: Emma Christensen: "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." (Exhibits 8, 10 and 16.) Thomas Kendall, Trustee: "The Urantia Book is arranged and assembled exactly as revealed." (Exhibits K-1 and 750.) James C. Mills, Trustee: "As to the semantics employed, we had no control over them. We reproduced the text exactly as received. We are pledged to preserve it inviolate, and will do so." [Exhibit 510] William M. (Bill) Hales, First President of Urantia Foundation: "The Urantia Book was published just as it was received in English." There was no editing. Our only jurisdiction had to do with typing, proofreading, and publication." (Deposition of W. Hales, page 19, line 24, continued on page 20, lines 1-3.) [See A History of The Urantia Movement (Two)]

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