Editing Church Universal and Triumphant (section)

==Demographics==
The CUT never revealed the number of members it had.{{sfnm|1a1=Melton|1y=1994|1p=20|2a1=Barrett|2y=2001|2p=380|3a1=Whitsel|3y=2003|3p=4}} Whitsel thought it "likely" that the Church had up to 25,000 followers in the late 1970s.{{sfnm|1a1=Whitsel|1y=2003|1p=4|2a1=Palmer|2a2=Abravanel|2y=2009|2p=171}} Melton, writing in 1993, suggested that 30,000 to 50,000 followers was a "reasonable" estimate.{{sfn|Melton|1994|p=20}}<ref>{{Cite web|last=Melton|first=J. Gordon|title=Church Universal and Triumphant|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Church-Universal-and-Triumphant|url-status=live|access-date=2021-05-05|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907004447/http://www.britannica.com/topic/Church-Universal-and-Triumphant |archive-date=2015-09-07 }}</ref> One former member told the scholar Robert Balch that at its peak, the CUT's membership was "closer to 10,000."{{sfn|Palmer|Abravanel|2009|p=171}} Christopher Partridge also estimates that  membership peaked at about 10,000 active participants.<ref name=partridge>{{cite book |editor=Partridge, Christopher|title=New Religions: A Guide: New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities|year=2004|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=New York, NY|pages=333–334}}</ref>

During the 1990s, following the group's failed apocalyptic predictions, membership of the Church declined heavily.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=4}}<ref name=partridge/> Whitsel also noted that the Church gained a "modest international following" outside the US.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=36}}

In 2001, Barrett noted that the Church had around 120 groups in the United States, an additional 120 groups in around 40 countries, and individual members in a further 20 countries.{{sfn|Barrett|2001|p=280}} Barrett further noted that there were probably thousands of people who had read Prophet's books and accepted many of her teachings without joining the Church.{{sfn|Barrett|2001|p=380}}

Having visited the Royal Teton Ranch in 1992, the scholar of religion [[James R. Lewis (scholar)|James R. Lewis]] thought the CUT members he encountered were "balanced, well-integrated individuals", with their children being "exceptionally bright and open".{{sfn|Lewis|1994|p=ix}} He noted that many members had been financially "quite well-off" and that this was reflected in the houses they built on the Royal Teton Ranch.{{sfn|Lewis|1994|p=x}}