Neal Chase, American educator
The Baháʼís Under the Provisions of the Covenant (BUPC) is a small Baháʼí sect founded by Leland Jensen in the early 1970s. The claims of the BUPC focus on a dispute in leadership following the death of Shoghi Effendi in 1957, and a subsequent dispute among the followers of Mason Remey, all of whom were shunned by the majority of Baháʼís. Jensen also made specific predictions for worldwide catastrophes, including a date in 1980 for the apocalypse, where followers were observed by researchers as a study in cognitive dissonance.Researchers from the University of Montana who observed the group in various studies over the course of 16 years noted that from 1980 to 1996 membership fluctuated, but probably never exceeded 200 nationwide. Adherents were mostly concentrated in Missoula, Montana, with members at times in Wyoming, Arkansas, Minnesota, Colorado, and Wisconsin. The group consisted of roughly 150 people leading up to 1980, but declined in size significantly following the disconfirmed prophecy, with almost all of the believers outside of Montana eventually rejecting Jensen's teachings. By 1990 the researchers claimed the BUPC probably had fewer than 100 members. With defection accelerating in the 1990s, they noted that in 1994 a membership phone list showed 66 members in Missoula, Montana, and less than 20 in other states. A schism over leadership of the group in 2001 resulted in other defections and an unresolved court battle for control of funds. Researchers documenting religious groups in Montana in 2003 noted a community of 30 members in the headquarters of Missoula, Montana.