My daughter is getting caught up with a "wonderful, loving group of people" who follow Urantia. She wants to move to Colorado to be with them and make them her "family." These are the people she wants to help her raise her little son. She is oblivious to the fact that this is a cult.

Any information you can provide would be helpful.

I knew a guy a few years back who was involved with it. It's based on something called the "Urantia Book" and is pretty loopy. Jesus is sort of "Space Savior" who came to save the earth from evil aliens or some such nonsense. It struck me as Scientology mixed with a touch of Mormonism and wrapped up as a quasi UFO cult.

They have a couple of websites that tout the "Book" which seems to be the intro to the scam,and then it milks the members dry just like any other cult.

It seems to me they we're based in the area of Sedona,Arizona a few years back,or their founder was? (It was roughly 1999 my friend was going on about it.)

Do a google search on "The Urantia Book" and you'll turn one of their sites up.

The fellow I knew who was mixed up in it was in his 40's,fairly disturbed,and had long history of being involved in various "New Age" movements. I lost touch with him about 2002.

I hope you were able to dissuade the kid from joining? Good luck to you both.

The Urantia movement by itself is pretty loose-knit, with no organization over all, it's just that a few individual, independent Urantia-related groups (such as the commune run by "Gabriel of Sedona" in Northern Arizona) are little more than personality cults, and have little to do with the book.

Urantia book readers and their home-based, leaderless, non-money-taking reader circles are as benign a spiritual group as can be found. They have more in common with the Bahai faith, I suppose. The Urantia book itself, while rather bizarre and sci-fi like, has fairly rational ethical ideas about human behavior, interaction, and service to others. Many of these ideas come by way of plagiarism, from mainstream early 20th century psychology and theology textbooks. That said, some Urantia groups take off too far into the sci-fi angle, getting caught up in the trippy descriptions of universes, galaxies, etc. The book has been described as part pulp sci-fi adventure. The Urantia movement overall is about as non-intrusive, non-manipulative a metaphysical theology as you're likely to find, unlike the ACIM (A Course in Miracles, another "channeled" pseudo-Christian text) groupies who are irrational control freaks. Urantia people are laid-back individualists, many are old school '60s love child hippie types. Still, many attend mainstream local churches or are members, from Methodists to Lutherans, etc., or they align themselves with the Quakers. Urantia has no "church", the "founder" (channeler, author, plagiarist, whatever) died almost 50 years ago, and their office which prints the "official" version of the book is in Chicago. The book is now in the public domain, however, and other Urantia-related groups print their own edition.

The Urantia Book itself is a fraud, however, just like ACIM. It isn't "nasty" or destructive like ACIM and its followers, though. As for the Urantia movement "milking people dry" that's utter nonsense. 99% of the Urantia people buy a copy of the book and that's it. And yes, I've had intimate knowledge and experience with both movements, and rejected both, a long time ago. I had nothing but trouble from ACIM people, but most Urantia folk I met I would still consider friends.

As always, your mileage may vary.

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Vicarion
The book has been described as part pulp sci-fi adventure.

more anti-adventure. or anti-literature.

most accurate summary there, though, Vicarion.

for further information, a skeptic named Martin Gardner has written a book called [i:2bc7d7ed33]Urantia[/i:2bc7d7ed33] which came form Prometheus Books.

if copying took place, BTW, I would not necessarily put it down to conscious borrowing. a lot of forgotten material will come up while writing from past sources. this may have happened here, especially if the Urantia book came out of channeled material, as claimed.

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Acid Reindeer

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Vicarion
The book has been described as part pulp sci-fi adventure.

more anti-adventure. or anti-literature.

most accurate summary there, though, Vicarion.

Thanks. Actually the "pulp sci-fi" description came from some skeptical source. Can't recall where exactly, but it seemed to fit, what with the book's detailed descriptions of alien races, planets, etc.

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Acid Reindeer
for further information, a skeptic named Martin Gardner has written a book called [i:2387566df0]Urantia[/i:2387566df0] which came form Prometheus Books.

Oh yes, the Gardner book is quite good and revealing about many details of Urantia history, and is very controversial within the Urantia movement, as can be expected. I'd like to see a similar expose' on A Course in Miracles someday. Though the two books have similar origins (channeling, automatic writing, an "alternative" approach to Christianity, etc.) I consider their respective movements, followers, and agenda as different in nature as night and day.

Respected polls reveal that half of all adult Americans believe UFOs are real and 12% claim to have seen one.1 Credible UFO experts estimate the number of alleged sightings worldwide in recent decades to be perhaps in the millions.2

This fascination has given rise to a number of UFO religions or cults, including the Aetherius Society, the Unarius Academy of Science, and the Raelian Movement. The Aetherius Society and the Raelian Movement have claimed more than several thousand members at their peak. The Heaven's Gate cult received wide press attention following the mass suicide of 39 of its members in 1997. The group believed that by committing suicide they would join a flying saucer trailing the Hale-Bopp comet.

The beliefs of UFO cults are centered on three ideas: (1) flying saucers are physical crafts, (2) people receive channeled messages from alien intelligences associated with flying saucers, and (3) these messages are of immense importance. These groups have an occult ancestry and engage in various occult practices.

While it may be tempting to dismiss the phenomenon as the captivation of eccentric or sectarian groups, most UFO reports come from average people. And while UFO experts estimate between 90 and 95% of all reported UFOs are either natural phenomena, hoaxes, or man-made crafts, some 5 to 10% defy such explanations.

Reasoning
Three popular explanatory hypotheses have been proffered in an attempt to explain these residual UFOs (RUFOs).

The Misidentified Hypothesis (MIH): This position asserts that if 90-95% of UFO reports have natural or human explanations then maybe all of them can be so explained. Cornell astronomer and popular science writer Carl Sagan reflected this view: "Although it is not possible to prove that all UFOs are misapprehended natural phenomena, there are no compelling reasons to believe otherwise."3

The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH): This view states that UFOs are physical realities (literal spacecrafts) piloted by interplanetary visitors. These space aliens represent what is thought to be a vastly advanced civilization (technologically, and possibly morally and spiritually) that studies mankind, and will, at the appropriate time, make contact with humanity. Outspoken advocate of the ETH, Stanton Friedman remarks "the evidence is overwhelming that some UFOs are alien spacecraft."4

The Interdimensional Hypothesis (IDH): This theory holds that UFOs are a real phenomenon that may exhibit physical and empirical effects, but whose origin and nature belongs not to extraterrestrial spacecraft, but to another dimension of reality beyond our time-space continuum. Sometimes described as the paranormal/occult view of UFOs, some UFO experts (especially Christian) have ascribed a demonic interpretation to this alleged extra-dimensional presence. Such leading secular UFO experts as Jacques Vallée have argued for a correspondence between the UFO phenomenon and the occult or demonology.5

Using what logicians call abductive reasoning, the best explanatory hypothesis is balanced between complexity and simplicity, is coherent, corresponds to the facts, avoids presumptions, is testable, and thus has true explanatory power. In applying this approach to UFOs it is evident that all views have their difficulties. Nevertheless, while the vast majority of UFOs have natural explanations (possibly 99%), RUFOs consistently defy a natural explanation. So the MIH does not explain all the data. The ETH, which calls for traversing vast distances of interstellar space, exhibiting behavior that violates the laws of physics, and sustaining untold numbers of spacecrafts, is scientifically, technologically, and logically untenable. The IDH also has weaknesses (physicality of reports, difficulty in validating psychic-like phenomena), but seems to offer the most explanatory power. RUFO-related phenomena strike an objective person as being real, but not physical, being deceptive in nature, and possibly malevolent in intent. Also, a biblical case can be made that RUFOs reflect a demonic influence. One should be cautious, however, about drawing any hard and fast conclusions about UFO phenomena.

Response
Christians can communicate several things when engaging the culture in UFO discussions. First, in the highly improbable event the existence of physical extraterrestrials will be proven, this development would not disprove Christianity. The Bible reveals God created all things, regardless of where they reside. The God of the Bible is not a mere Earth-based deity, but is the transcendent Lord of the entire cosmos. Second, RUFOs are for the most part a religious phenomenon and religious beliefs have real consequences, as was evidenced in the case of the Heaven's Gate cult. And third, historic Christianity provides powerful and livable answers to life's ultimate questions, and those answers are more convincing than anything RUFO phenomena can provide.

References
CNI News, "Gallup Poll Indicates Strong Belief in Extraterrestrial Life," [www.exosci.com], accessed Jan. 6, 1998; ABC News.com: Roswell. "We Think the Truth Is Out There, Says Poll,"
[archive.abcnews.com], originally accessed July 2, 1998.
Jacques Vallée, Dimensions: A Casebook of Alien Contact (New York: Ballantine Books, 1988), 231.
Encyclopedia Americana, s.v. "unidentified flying object."
Jerome Clark, The UFO Encyclopedia, 2nd ed., vol. 1 (Detroit: Omnigraphics, 1998), s.v. "Friedman, Stanton Terry."
Vallée, Dimensions, 253.

"New Life":

Please understand that this is not a discussion board provided to promote any one religion or belief system.

Hi concerned mom,

I've been studying the Urantia Book for 20+ years as well as the origins of the Book, related movements, controversies, cults stemming from the readership etc.

Aside from related groups of "communal/spiritual" types the UB is harmless[b:3ef7a592a6] in my educated opinion. [/b:3ef7a592a6]

There is however one cult in Sadona Arizona that is populated with UB readers.This is a very dangerous group dominated by a gentleman that thinks he's Gabriel the angel. The doctrine of the group is in full fledge departure from the core teachings of the UB as is often the case with such fanatical movements.

If I were you I may want to know a little more about the "group of people" that your daughter is going to live with provided that is age appropriate for her.



From the Urantia Foundation web site:

"The Urantia Book, first published by the Urantia Foundation in 1955, was authored by celestial beings as a special revelation to our planet, Urantia."


"The book's message is that all human beings are one family, the sons and daughters of one God, the Universal Father. It instructs on the genesis, history, and destiny of mankind and on our relationship with God. It also presents a unique and compelling portrayal of the life and teachings of Jesus, opening new vistas of time and eternity, and revealing new concepts of Man's ever-ascending adventure of finding the Universal Father in our friendly and carefully administered universe."


"The Urantia Book's view of science, philosophy, and religion is perhaps the clearest and most concise integration of these subjects available to contemporary man. There is little question among the over 400,000 people who have purchased, read, and who study the Book: The Urantia Book has the capacity to make a significant contribution to the religious and philosophical thinking of all peoples; it truly has the potential to shape world destiny."


Where Did The Urantia Book Come From?

"In the early 20th century, a physician practicing in Chicago became the head of a group known as the Contact Commission. This small group was the focal point for the production of, and the primary custodian for, the final text of The Urantia Book. They were sworn not to disclose details about the transactions in order to preclude future generations from venerating the participants. It was considered important that no individual might be exalted through their association with The Urantia Book. Because of its revelatory nature, the book stands on its own merit, nature and content."


"As the contents of The Urantia Book were being transcribed, the Urantia Papers were read to, and questions were requested from "The Forum," a group that had been meeting regularly for discussions at the doctor's house. The answers to these questions were then incorporated into the papers. These early readers formed the first core group of believers in the revelation and became committed to the mission of bringing the teachings of The Urantia Book to the world. "


Colter

I Got CAUGHT Up In The UB & Ended Up Tearing Up My Bible.
This Book Totally Screwed My Knowledge Of Jesus.
The Michael Factor For One & The Many Michaels On The Other.
I Hate Religion But I Love Jesus, He Saved My Life...The UB ****ed It.
A Book Written By Man Through Transmissions From Beings I Have Never Heard Of, I Live On Earth...Bugger Urantia & The Midwayers.

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Burgo
I Got CAUGHT Up In The UB & Ended Up Tearing Up My Bible.
This Book Totally Screwed My Knowledge Of Jesus.
The Michael Factor For One & The Many Michaels On The Other.
I Hate Religion But I Love Jesus, He Saved My Life...The UB ****ed It.
A Book Written By Man Through Transmissions From Beings I Have Never Heard Of, I Live On Earth...Bugger Urantia & The Midwayers.

Think of what Jesus did to the apostles view of Judaism, and then look what a "spirit" did to Paul. It screwed the guy up so much that he had to change his name., then he went on to turn the western world upside down.

It's good to see you here Burgo. I have a question for you that I've been wanting to ask, why do you capitalize all your words?

Colter