Now and again over the past several years, the simmering controversy involving issues of ownership and "control" over A Course in Miracles (the "Course") has come to a boil. On March 8, 1999, the Course community was awakened by the news that all copyrights and trademarks related to the Course had been transferred by Foundation For Inner Peace ("FIP"), the original owner, to Foundation For a Course in Miracles ("FACIM"), which had been founded in 1983 by Kenneth Wapnick as the "teaching arm" of FIP and positioned as a "sister organization" of FIP. The notice of the transfer appeared on the web page of FIP and was subsequently broadcast via e-mail to a large number of course students and other individuals and organizations interested in A Course in Miracles.

Because of the discourse (and discord!) that the event set off and the isolation and confusion that has developed in the minds of many Course students, this site was created to display in one place many of the materials involving the controversy, in an effort to illuminate the issues, to provide a forum for discussion and, hopefully, to stimulate a resolution.

Since FACIM gained control of the copyright, the level of controversy, unrest and strife has escalated markedly. In August 1999, Circle of Atonement, a preeminent teaching organization, filed a lawsuit against FACIM, seeking cancellation of the copyright and trademark on various grounds. Later, in November of that same year, Ryan Rothgeb was sued by FACIM for his “civil disobedience.” Rothgeb had posted an electronic version of A Course in Miracles on his website, and announced its availability for download on an internet newsgroup frequented by FACIM loyalists, among others. Finally, an early version of the Course, which came to be known as Jesus Course in Miracles, appeared on the internet in December 1999. The JCIM lacked editorial deletions and revisions which had been made by Ken Wapnick after the manuscript had been finished by the original scribes, Bill Thetford and Helen Schucman.

An organization calling itself Course in Miracles Society (CIMS) obtained a copy of JCIM from the internet and published a printed version, which contained an appendix that compared the early JCIM version with the popular second edition printed by FACIM. CIMS then filed suit against FACIM, seeking to establish that the manuscript it had printed was in the public domain.

In the meantime, the lawsuit that had begun it all, FIP’s suit against the New Christian Church of Full Endeavor that had been filed in 1996, marched on toward resolution. In July 2000, The federal court hearing the suit against the Church threw out a number of the Church’s defenses in the copyright infringement aspect of the case, but, significantly, left standing for trial the claim that the proprietors of the copyright may have placed the Course in the public domain by premature unrestricted distribution of the material.

Of all these lawsuits only the Rothgeb suit has been concluded. FACIM was successful in obtaining an award of a nominal amount of damages in its case against Rothgeb, who lacked the funds to employ lawyers to defend the case and represented himself in the proceedings. After the trial was concluded, FACIM presented the bill for $180,000 of attorneys fees to Rothgeb, which the Court had ordered him to pay.

A related case that many Course students had been following was resolved after a decade-long court battle. The Urantia Book lawsuits had raised many of the same issues that were brought up in the cases against FACIM, and in June 2001 a jury invalidated the copyright covering the Urantia Book.

In July 2001, after lying fallow for several months, new life was breathed into this site by John Lopez (aka thewebguy), who completely reorganized and updated the site, with crucial assistance from an individual who has been gathering information and closely following the various lawsuits that have plagued our community. I want to publicly express my gratitude to John and his assistant (who has asked to remain nameless) for their tireless efforts in obtaining, organizing and presenting the mountain of information in an attractive and useful manner for the benefit of all students who love and are concerned about A Course in Miracles.

A visitor's Guest Book is provided in which I hope that you enter your remarks, comment, suggestions and prayers.

Thank you for your involved interest, and "May the mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus,"

--Tom Whitmore