Jim Jones And The People's Temple Analysis

There is a great difference between Christianity and religion at the south. If a man goes to the communion table, and pays money into the treasury of the church, no matter if it be the price of blood, he is called religious. If a pastor has offspring by a woman not his wife, the church dismiss him, if she is a white woman; but if she is colored, it does not hinder his continuing to be their good shepherd. (Jacobs 64)

We hail Jesus Christ as the messiah and savior, and we lump Jim Jones with the rest of the crazies. If you break everything down to the basics, Jesus and Jim Jones were the same person. They both managed to gain a large following, had people who feared them, and they both made the ultimate sacrifice. Somewhere along the lines something happened, a fork in the road that changed the results. Because if history had repeated itself, Jones too would be idolized and hailed as the savior of Jonestown. But instead history played out in a different way, while Jesus will be remembered for healing the sick and blessing the poor, Jim Jones will only be remembered for handing cups of cyanide-laced punch to his

The Jonestown Massacre was one of America’s greatest tragedies in history. Due to extreme Racism and persecution innocent people were driven to create a socialistic society only to realize there is no such thing. There are many causes and effects to the event of Jonestown massacre. Some examples of those causes and effects are the background, events, responses, and efforts. Jim Jones and the people of Peoples temple did not set out to be one of america's worst massacres, they just want equality and to escape racism in the U.S. when a leader with a lot of responsibility, lets the power go to his head and it resulted in failure.

A little more than 35 years ago, a man named Jim Jones shocked the world when he led almost 1,000 of his followers in an act of mass suicide; amongst those dead were more than 270 children1. On November 18, 1978, Jones and his followers drank Kool-Aid laced with cyanide in what he had presented to them as a peaceful escape to injustices of this world. The Jonestown Massacre was an incredible tragedy that sent waves through the whole world. Though the event was tragic, scholars have used our knowledge of what happened in order to deepen our understanding of cults, religions, and how both can influence people’s decisions.

“Prior to the 9/11 attack, the tragedy at Jonestown marked the single largest loss of U.S. civilian lives in a non-natural disaster”(Jonestown Massacre 2). Jim Jones, a cult leader of the Peoples Temple, was responsible for the loss of the 900+ people that died in Guyana on November 18, 1978. Before all of this Jim Jones was a normal man living a life as a preacher who preached against racism. Throughout his life he was very popular by “currying favor with public officials and the media, donated money to numerous charitable causes and delivered votes for various politicians at election times”(History Staff). Jim Jones was a cult leader that preached to 900+ people of the Peoples Temple, made hundreds of people commit suicide, and made history of the biggest loss of U.S. civilians before 9/11.

The Making of the 1963 Baptist Faith and Message. A. J. Smith Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2008.

The mass suicides, that took place under the influence of Reverend Jim Jones, can be explained from a sociological perspective. By looking at how the group dynamics played into the outcome one gets a better idea of the whys? of the massacre. The sociological explanation is but one way to explain this horrific event. It is , however, the only one explored in this essay for reasons of concision.

The truck made it safely to the airport, but the planes weren't ready to leave when the group arrived. As they waited, a tractor and trailer pulled up near them. From the trailer, Peoples Temple members popped up and started shooting at Ryan's group. On the tarmac, five people were killed, including Congressman Ryan. Many others were severely wounded. Back in Jonestown, Jones ordered everyone to assemble at the pavilion. Once everyone was assembled, Jones spoke to his congregation. He was in a panic and seemed agitated. He was upset that some of his members had left. He acted like things had to happen in a hurry. He told the congregation that there was to be an attack on Ryan's group. He also told them that because of the attack, Jonestown wasn't safe. Jones was sure that the U.S. government would react strongly to the attack on Ryan's group. "When they start parachuting out of the air, they'll shoot some of our innocent babies," Jones told them. Jones told his congregation that the only way out was to commit the "revolutionary act" of suicide. “In desperation, Jones ordered his followers to commit suicide, along with himself and his wife.” One woman spoke up against the idea, but after Jones offered reasons why there was no hope in other options, the crowd spoke out against her. When it was announced that Ryan was dead, Jones became

. At Jonestown they practiced what was called “White Knights”, these practices were just pretexts to the final massacre. White Knights included Jim preaching to the people falsities about mass genocide of African Americans in the U.S. and spies coming to murder them for their ways. His followers would then drink, or be forced to drink Cyanide laced Kool-Aid. What they didn’t know is that in these “White Knights” the Kool-Aid was untreated. This would cause them to always wonder why they were still alive after drinking it.

The mass suicides, that took place under the influence of Reverend Jim Jones, can be explained from a sociological perspective. By looking at how the group dynamics played into the outcome one gets a better idea of the whys? of the massacre. The sociological explanation is but one way to explain this horrific event. It is , however, the only one explored in this essay for reasons of concision.

On November 18, 1978, followers of Jim Jones shot and killed United States Congressman Leo J. Ryan and four others traveling with him on a fact finding trip to Guyana. Ryan was there to investigate complaints about the community called "Jonestown," which was largely inhabited by his former California constituents.

: The structures that make up the Temple of Heaven are meant to signify the relationship between heaven and earth, more importantly the connection between the emperors and God. The through in It was believed that offerings made by the emperor to the Gods, would bring a flourishing harvests, as he was believed to be the closest being to god. The structure itself was built so majestically to represent it descending into heaven. The main ceremonies that were held within the hall were all on the basis of worshipping heaven and so it was believed by doing so, it would be seen as favorable to the gods, enough to be blessed with an abundance supply of harvests such as grain. The ceremonial interior of the hall was built in such a way as to emphasize

The first public challenge to Jones’ leadership of the Temple came in 1972 from the media, which then increased his paranoia that his followers would turn against him. Jones went to greater lengths after being challenged by the media to declare his control by constantly testing his followers. He would organize “white nights”, which required his followers to drink a red liquid which may have contained poison, then Jones would see how many of his followers wouldn’t hesitate to drink the red liquid. Jones was still paranoid and made the decision to move Peoples Temple to Guyana and start a community called Jonestown.

The family members called the U.S government and asked them to investigate Jonestown. The U.S government told California Congressman Leo Ryan about Jonestown and he decided to go there himself and make sure that everyone was okay. He took a newspaper reporter and a cameraman with him. When he got there one of the cult members threatened to kill him if he did not leave. Ryan decided to go back to the U.S, and fifteen other Jonestown members wanted to go with him. As they were boarding the plane, Jones sent over gunmen who killed Ryan, his cameraman, the reporter and some of the people trying to leave Jonestown. The rest managed to escape. When Jones heard that they escaped he told his followers that they could no longer live in peace and that they would all have to sacrifice their lives so they could live in another world of peace together. At exactly 5:00 p.m .the mass suicide started. Jones and his aides put sedatives, cyanide, and tranquilizers in grape flavored Kool Aid and gave it to everyone in Jonestown. The people who would not drink it were forced by the other followers.909 people drank the poisonous drink and all of them died, 232 of those people were children. By 7:00 p.m., all 909 people where dead. Jones himself did not drink the Kool Aid. He was shot in the head, either by himself or his aide is undecided.

On November 18, 1978 more than nine hundred people died in one of the largest mass murder/suicides in history. The man that implemented and carried out that atrocity was James Warren Jones, otherwise known as Jim Jones, a self proclaimed Second Coming (God). His exposure to an intensely emotional Pentecostal church service influenced and shaped his future beliefs and actions. In 1960, despite his lack of theological training, Jim Jones became an ordained minister. He made racial equality one of goals. Jim Jones also used fear arousal to recruit his followers by Genocide and thermonuclear war.