Neal Chase
Encyclopedia
Bahá'í divisions
The Bahá'í Faith has had challenges to leadership, usually, at the death of every head of the religion. The vast majority of Bahá'ís have followed a line of authority from Bahá'u'lláh to `Abdu'l-Bahá to Shoghi Effendi to the Custodians to the Universal House of Justice. Sects diverging from this...
known as the Bahá'ís Under the Provisions of the Covenant
Bahá'ís Under the Provisions of the Covenant
The Bahá'ís Under the Provisions of the Covenant is a small Bahá'í sect founded originally 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...
(BUPC), which was last known to have fewer than 100 members in 1990, mostly concentrated in Montana, and declined rapidly in the 1990s. Chase claims to be the current Guardian
Shoghi Effendi
Shoghí Effendí Rabbání , better known as Shoghi Effendi, was the Guardian and appointed head of the Bahá'í Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957...
of the Bahá'í Faith, as well as the current successor to the Throne of David
Davidic line
The Davidic line refers to the tracing of lineage to the King David referred to in the Hebrew Bible, as well as the New Testament...
. Chase and the BUPC fall into the category of Covenant-breaker
Covenant-breaker
A Covenant-breaker or the act of Covenant-breaking is a term used by Bahá'ís to refer to a particular form of heresy. Being declared a Covenant-breaker by the head of the Faith — which since 1963 refers to the elected nine-member Universal House of Justice, the governing body of the Bahá'ís....
s to members of the Bahá'í Faith
Bahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....
, and are shunned.
Background
Neal Chase was born a Jew in Bridgeport, ConnecticutBridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in Fairfield County, the city had an estimated population of 144,229 at the 2010 United States Census and is the core of the Greater Bridgeport area...
. After becoming a born-again Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
in his teens, Chase became a follower of Leland Jensen
Leland Jensen
Leland Jensen was the founder of a Bahá'í sect called the Bahá'ís Under the Provisions of the Covenant . Jensen initially supported the claim of Mason Remey to be the successor to Shoghi Effendi in 1960, resulting in his excommunication from the mainstream Bahá'í community...
, and a member of the BUPC at the age of 19 while attending Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
. He later moved to Deer Lodge, Montana
Deer Lodge, Montana
Deer Lodge is a city in and the county seat of Powell County, Montana, United States. The population was 3,421 at the 2000 census. The city is perhaps best known as the home of the Montana State Prison, a major local employer...
, and in 1990 he privately published Ezekiel's Temple in Montana, a book on his research into the Morrisites, the Mormon splinter group that pioneered the Deerlodge Valley. He claims that the Morrisites specified August 9, 1969, as the date for the Second Coming of Jesus, which he claimed was fulfilled by Jensen's arrival in prison. Leroy Anderson, the leading expert on the Morrisites, disputes Chase's conclusion and claims the date simply happened to be the last annual Morrisite gathering.
He received attention for a number of predictions he was making about attacks on New York City and nuclear holocaust, and was invited to be a guest on the Art Bell radio show Coast to Coast AM
Coast to Coast AM
Coast to Coast AM is a North American late-night syndicated radio talk show that deals with a variety of topics, but most frequently ones that relate to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. It was created by Art Bell and is distributed by Premiere Radio Networks. The program currently...
on March 25, 1993, soon after the first World Trade Center Bombing. Chase was also satirized on Michael Moore’s TV Nation
TV Nation
Production on the pilot episode of TV Nation began in January 1993. Moore initially turned to friends and colleagues in many production areas, while also making a point to ensure the show's employees were unionized. For the show's title sequence, graphic designer Chris Harvey put together the...
in episode #5's segment, "Millennialists". His prediction of an attack on February 26, 1993 was discussed in Expecting Armageddon, and mentioned in the February 1995 issue of Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
.
A year after the 9/11 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
The Missoulian newspaper published a statement from Victor Woods, a BUPC member, that Chase had accurately predicted the date of the attacks.
Leland Jensen
In 1960 Mason RemeyMason Remey
Charles Mason Remey was a prominent and controversial American Bahá'í who was appointed in 1951 a Hand of the Cause, and president of the International Bahá'í Council...
claimed to be the Guardian to succeed Shoghi Effendi, resulting in his, and all his follower's expulsion from the Bahá'í community. Leland Jensen was among those who accepted Remey's claim. After infighting began among Remey's followers, Jensen and his wife left the group and moved to Missoula in 1964. In 1973 Jensen founded the BUPC on the belief that he was uniquely chosen by God to re-establish the Bahá'í administration after a perceived corruption in the administration after Shoghi Effendi's death. Jensen's beliefs also focused on apocalyptic disasters, and included a specific date in 1980 for a nuclear holocaust. Between 1980 and 1996, four researchers took part in group activities and even stayed the night in three BUPC fallout shelters in 1980. Their research noted the following about Chase,
"One of the most significant events in the history of the BUPC was the recruitment of Neal Chase, a spiritual seeker from Wisconsin who proved to be brilliant at synthesizing Jensen's teachings with other prophetic beliefs. Chase's most notable contribution was to bolster the 'proofs' for Jensen's mission by incorporating the prophecies of George Williams, a leader of an obscure nineteenth-century Mormon sect known as the Morrisites... By 1990, Jensen, then seventy-six, had turned much of the responsibility for interpreting the scriptures over to Chase."
Guardianship claim
This long-running dispute culminated in 2001, seven years after Pepe's death, when Chase announced that he was the Guardian. Chase's announcement caused a division among the council members, with the majority opposing Chase. His exercising the removal of funds and material of the council resulted in an unresolved court case in 2002. Chase declared the other dissenting members to be Covenant-breaker
Covenant-breaker
A Covenant-breaker or the act of Covenant-breaking is a term used by Bahá'ís to refer to a particular form of heresy. Being declared a Covenant-breaker by the head of the Faith — which since 1963 refers to the elected nine-member Universal House of Justice, the governing body of the Bahá'ís....
s, including his ex-wife, Dawn Mullally.
Domain name dispute over UHJ.net
On February 24, 2005 the National Spiritual AssemblySpiritual Assembly
Spiritual Assembly is a term given by `Abdu'l-Bahá to refer to elected councils that govern the Bahá'í Faith. Because the Bahá'í Faith has no clergy, they carry out the affairs of the community...
(NSA) of the Bahá'ís of the United States filed a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization
World Intellectual Property Organization
The World Intellectual Property Organization is one of the 17 specialized agencies of the United Nations. WIPO was created in 1967 "to encourage creative activity, to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world"....
Arbitration and Mediation Center against Neal Chase for his use of the domain name
Domain name
A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System ....
UHJ.net, which claims to be "The Official website of the Universal House of Justice" - a name for which the NSA has a United States federal trademark registration, issued in 1965.
The case resulted in Chase keeping the domain name
Domain name
A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System ....
on the basis that “uhj” as an acronym is not commonly used in the Bahá'í Faith to refer to the Universal House of Justice. The panel also concluded that the NSA was not attempting a reverse domain name hijacking. All other issues were deemed not necessary to address.
Predictions
Throughout the 1990s Chase made a total of 18 predictions, with Jensen's approval, which pertained to small-scale disasters that he claimed would lead step-by-step towards apocalypse, as well as dates for a nuclear attack on New York City by middle Eastern terrorists. Researchers from the University of Montana led by Robert Balch studied Jensen, and later Chase, extensively between 1980 and 1996, using them as a case study in cognitive dissonanceCognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance is a discomfort caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Dissonance is also reduced by justifying,...
. Their report claimed that Chase based these predictions on Biblical prophecies, evidence from Hopi prophecies, planetary conjunctions, dreams, numerological coincidences, Nostradamus
Nostradamus
Michel de Nostredame , usually Latinised to Nostradamus, was a French apothecary and reputed seer who published collections of prophecies that have since become famous worldwide. He is best known for his book Les Propheties , the first edition of which appeared in 1555...
, and psychics.
Balch was observing Chase and the BUPC when he made his first prediction that the bombing of New York City would be on Nov. 29, 1992. Nothing happened in New York until the World Trade Center was attacked three months later on 02/26/93. Chase later cited Daniel 7:12, which says, "their lives were prolonged for a season and a time". Claiming that a season is three months, he announced that "the predicted day of Nov. 29 plus the prophesied season of three months brought us to Feb. 26, 1993, the day the World Trade Center was bombed" (August 4, 1993).
Another of Chase's predictions didn't pass without incident, though not the nuclear attack by terrorist that was expected. On 11/01/93 Chase wrote, "March 23rd, 1994 the veils will be rent asunder with the fiery holocaust of New York's millions of inhabitants. Forty days later the Battle of Armageddon will begin...". The day after the predicted date, on March 24, 1994 a gasline exploded in Edison, NJ across the Hudson River from New York. Chase used the eyewitness accounts comparing the explosion to a nuclear blast to buttress the claim that the prediction came true.
Balch noted that Chase responded to the 18 disconfirmed prophecies with a number of "face-saving strategies", including drawing a distinction between prediction and prophecy, claiming miscalculation, reprieve, and tests of faith. Chase later proclaimed "We didn't make a mistake," and that they have "a 100 perecent track record!"
Articles
- UN WIPO Decision - Ruling in domain name dispute