Urantia Book Commentary and Articles

by Donald Shea Green

It all started back in 1981. At the time I was a student at The Boulder School for Students of the Urantia Book founded by John Hay. Merritt Horn designed and taught the two and a half year program. Besides the incremental study of the book, Merritt insisted that we all had to find some sort of community service project. Several of us at the school figured that the University of Coloradoâ€™s Boulder campus (CU) would be a great place to expose students to The Urantia Book. So a few of us decided to try to do something on campus.

In those days, the Student Union building would allow the various student clubs and organizations to set up booths along a large gallery leading into the cafeteria. Hundreds of students would pass by all day, five days a week. It looked like an eastern bazaar with a crazy assortment of campus organizations, sports clubs, fraternities, sororities, along with clubs representing every possible religion. Mixed into this clamor were vendors who could get permission from any of the official clubs to use their booth privileges to sell products and in return give the clubs a percentage. All vying for attention â€“ it was great!

So how the heck would we fit into this hubbub? We decided that weâ€™d call ourselves â€œSynthesisâ€� â€“ as in the synthesis of science, philosophy and religion. Clever, huh? The big question was just how would we present a virtually unheard of big blue book (with no pictures!) which called itself a revelation. We didnâ€™t have a clue. But we decided to jump in. We got one of the non-religious clubs to sponsor us, and we set up a booth. What a mess it was! By booth I mean a folding table â€“ the large, brown, well used, variety. We figured â€“ because of the clever name we chose â€“ if we got a lot of different books relating to philosophy, science and religion and casually stuck The Urantia Book in the midst of them, we might be able to engage some unsuspecting young person into a conversation. And (of course) hook them on the big blue one in the middle. Needless to say, everyone thought we were selling used books! Actually, the only book that got absolutely no interest was â€“ you guessed it â€“ The Urantia Book.

Our next plan was to put some notices around the Student Union announcing a discussion group on how to synthesize science, philosophy and religion. We packed one of the meeting rooms with 5 or 6 of the students from the Boulder School and laid in wait for any curious student that might happen into the room. Two or three stumbled in looking for a meeting taking place next door, and here we were, five guilty looking individuals all with big, blue, books on our laps. Needless to say, they took one look and fled in horror! â€œSynthesisâ€� lasted, as I remember, one semester.

At that time, I lived two blocks from the university and just couldnâ€™t give up the idea of doing something on campus. It dawned on me that our approach was wrong. We wanted to interest, or at least expose, the students to the Urantia Papers â€“ not necessarily trick them into a debate. Why not call our group what it really is about? So I changed the name to The Urantia Book Club.

Now for the booth itself. The table was a mess. From looking at it, no one could figure out what the heck we were doing there. It was cluttered and confusing. It needed a complete change. I picked out a very clean, shiny blue cloth to cover that ratty table top, and placed three copies of The Urantia Book on it â€“ two opened to different places and one in the center closed, showing the book and its cover. Next, I added some brochures and flyers on The Urantia Book. Also displayed was a copy of the Concordex and one of the Paramony. The Urantia Book Club was now open for business, three days a week for two hours a day.

In those days there were no less than 14 Christian clubs active on the CU campus. Many of them had booths set up at the same time we did â€“ sometimes right next to us. That never bothered me. Whenever the kids from one of these groups would stop by to see if he or she couldnâ€™t save me from the grip of the devil, Iâ€™d do my best to try and point out some of the similarities we shared. But usually they would just tell me theyâ€™d pray for me, and theyâ€™d end up going back to their booths shaking their heads.

Periodically, members of the local Urantia Book community would stop by to help out. One was a self-proclaimed bible expert who loved debating these sincere young Christians. On several occasions, he would get the better of them, theologically. I personally considered that a form of bullying â€“ taking instead of giving. I finally told him I thought he was doing more harm than good, so he just stopped coming by. Other members who stopped by to help would get bored with our apparently passive methods â€“ they would want to go after the students aggressively. I responded to that outreach philosophy by referring to a group who used to operate aggressively back in the mid-80s, the Moonies. The Moonies were an example of what I call â€œthe hard sell.â€� They had their evangelists posted at every entrance and exit to the Student Union building. They would literally chase the students down until they got them to take their literature. And then theyâ€™d try to engage them in a dialogue. Kids are very susceptible to pressure tactics. Most of them just havenâ€™t learned to say, â€œGet lost,â€� or â€œNO!!â€� The Moonies did very well with certain types of individuals, but most kids hated to be pushed â€“ and that's just as true today.

One of the most important issues you need to consider is your real motive for wanting to do something like this. Most of the people who come up to the university to help â€“ with a few exceptions â€“ do it a few times and then decide they just donâ€™t have the time or the inclination just to sit there. And believe me, most of the time thatâ€™s just what youâ€™re doing â€“ sitting and watching the kids pass. It may appear they don't even glance in your direction, and they don't ask as much as a single question. You know, I think most of us â€“ when we start doing outreach like this â€“ tend to think of it as a numbers thing. â€œHow many people have I had a meaningful dialogue with or at least connected with today?â€� If the answer is, â€œNone,â€� then the natural tendency is to think I must be doing something wrong â€“ or perhaps they just donâ€™t like my looks â€“ or I need to be more aggressive. Wrong! What we need to look at very hard is just what weâ€™re trying to do. After many years of experimenting with all kinds of methods, Iâ€™ve come to one clear conclusion. Itâ€™s not about us, and whether we feel weâ€™re being accepted, or if weâ€™re doing a good enough job. Itâ€™s about those students who are passing by.

Keep in mind, every time someone walks by your booth, whether it appears so or not, that person has given your display a very brief glance, and they may have even stared at it. In any event, from that point on, they will remember, on some level, that there is such a thing as The Urantia Book. In other words, The Urantia Book is no longer something theyâ€™ve never laid eyes on. Now the Adjusters and the angels can do their work to underline the revelation. Now their subject can recognize it. It may not have church endorsement, but theyâ€™ve seen it somewhere, and that gives it a degree of authority and familiarity. That in my mind makes all the hours Iâ€™ve spent sitting at the university worthwhile. If youâ€™re looking for, â€œOh, thank you, sir, for turning me on to this revelation,â€� you may have a long wait.

Believe me, weâ€™ve learned that the passive approach is the best. Now I donâ€™t even sit at the booth, but at another table near by. Students are more likely to stop and look it over when there is no one sitting behind the table ready to leap. If I see that someone is looking it over with interest then I might approach with, â€œFeel free to take some of the literature.â€� The approach is very relaxed. â€œAny questions just ask.â€� And sometimes they do.

There are always those encounters that make your heart leap: when some kid really wants to talk and asks all kinds of questions. The more you become a recognized fixture on campus, youâ€™ll find that more and more kids will stop and pick up a brochure or one of the magazines we give out. I think itâ€™s important that when you do set up a booth or table, you try to make it at the same time and day. That gives the impression of stability and safety. And you are easy to find another day.

On the CU campus if you have whatâ€™s called an On-Campus-Club status, you are entitled to use almost any of the university buildings and services at no charge. So there is a lot of room for new approaches to disseminating the teachings of The Urantia Book. This would include interfacing with many of the other religious clubs, utilizing the campus radio station by producing programs and ads, hosting study groups with guest speakers, staging events, and potentially lots of other activities. We post short quotes from The Urantia Book on bulletin boards around campus with our name The Urantia Book Club in small print down in the corner. Like many of the clubs on campus, The Urantia Book Club will soon have its own website for students to browse. The internet will also make it possible to dialogue with anyone who wants more information on how to set up their own Urantia Book Club at colleges and universities across the country.

Over the years, The Urantia Book Club has evolved to where it is today, and we believe the best is yet to come. Weâ€™ve had a lot of help along the way and learned how to operate and maintain an on-campus organization. Now I feel itâ€™s time for you to take it to other colleges and universities. We know the educated young people â€“ not only of this country but of the world â€“ are the future of this fabulous revelation.

Labels: book club, Christianity, Donald Shea Green, motivation, students, The Urantia Book