By Olga López, Barcelona, Spain
The Urantia movement is growing slowly and steadily in Spain. The book is easy to find and order, and its price (thirty euros) is affordable if we take into account that any best-selling book costs about twenty to twenty-five euros. Recently, I went to a FNAC bookstore in Barcelona, and, to my surprise, they had about thirty copies of The Urantia Book in plain sight! Book distribution has come a long way since the time when the book was available only in a few esoteric bookshops, and it was next to impossible to find on the shelves.
El libro de Urantia is selling well in spite of the financial crisis in Spain. Why? These are the answers that come to my mind:
- In times of uncertainty, more and more people are looking for meaning in their lives, and they find The Urantia Book as a result of this search.
- The “J.J. Benitez effect”: Many people have found The Urantia Book after reading Benitez’s novels. Benitez has published two novels recently, and they are more or less related to The Urantia Book – more specifically–to the life and teachings of Jesus as it is told in The Urantia Book.
- Dissemination efforts are bearing fruits. The Urantia Association of Spain has been working diligently since 2004 to make known the teachings of The Urantia Book.
- The Catholic Church made the Spanish people spiritually thirsty but insufficiently quenched their thirst.
Today there are eleven study groups in Spain, including one virtual one. Study groups are proving to be crucial in the efforts made by the Urantia Association of Spain to disseminate the book’s teachings. Study group members find places to make presentations about the book, they take care of logistics, and they make themselves available as contacts for new readers.
The virtual study group meets every Sunday at 6:00 p.m. on the internet. Thanks to the generosity of the Urantia Association of Brazil, we can use their chat room to participate in a study group session using voice, image, and written text. This endeavor has proven to be very successful so far. About 13-15 readers participate per session, and they come not only from Spain but also from other Spanish-speaking countries. I strongly recommend that isolated readers join a virtual study group! Although the experience does not compare with face-to-face meetings, it does allow for lively interaction and a fruitful exchange of insights and ideas.
The Spanish Urantia Association has also developed a new discussion list, “El rincón de Urantia,” which means “the Urantia corner” in English. It was conceived as a forum to discuss The Urantia Book and its teachings in a loving and respectful way.
Other efforts are made to disseminate the book, including giving presentations in different cities throughout Spain and hosting an annual national conference in Madrid, this year being the twelfth. The theme of this year’s conference is “The Urantia Book: What? How? Why?” Our focus will be on answering the questions:
- What do we do to disseminate The Urantia Book and its teachings?
- How do we do it? and
- Why do we do it?
We want to encourage attendees to find their own way to disseminate the book so that more people will discover this wonderful revelation.
There is still much work to do and challenges to face. Materialistic-secularism is still prevalent throughout Europe. Most people are not interested in religion, and truth seekers are not easy to find. We know, however, that they are here, craving for meaning and thirsting for truth, and we are going to find them! We also want to involve younger people in the Urantia movement because they will be tomorrow’s leaders.
When the materialistic-secular panic is over, the religion of Jesus will not be found bankrupt. The spiritual bank of the kingdom of heaven will be paying out faith, hope, and moral security to all who draw upon it "in His name." (2076.6) 195:6.1
Olga López in FNAC