People's Temple History

Peoples Temple, which is recognized as the deadliest cult in American history, was founded in the 1950s by a man named Jim Jones in Indiana. The religion, previously known as Wings of Deliverance, was built on the goal of creating a congregation society that would overcome injustices, such as racism and poverty. Wings of Deliverance was first founded after Jones and his wife left Methodism because of the religion’s racial views. Though Jones had no theological training, he was a very charismatic and persuasive speaker, which enticed many people to his cause. After creating a following in Indianapolis, Indiana, Jones moved his people to Ukiah, California in fear of nuclear war. After two years on the west coast, his congregation grew from only

The theory also goes that the United states Government had no involvement and that the Reason he moved to Guyana was because he was fearful of the Rising Nuclear threat. Not to mention that the main Lure of being a Religious leader at the time was the money. In fact after Jones death he left Millions of dollars and many argue if he had taken advantage of his Group (The Peoples Temple). To add to the theory, Jones mostly integrated African Americans into his Congregation (Mass Suicide at Jonestown 2). Which at the time Many Blacks did not have a Church to take them in so Jones would have had some easy followers to add to his Group which meant more money.

On November 18, 1978, with the help of grape flavored Flavor-Aid, over 900 members of “The people’s temple” were killed in a mass suicide directed by leader Jim Jones. In the beginning Jones movement was one that helped the poor and needy but with a growing number of members, unflattering reports surfaced. With former members telling stories of having all belongings, homes, and even children being taken from them Jones was forced to move his congregation to Guyana where he promised to build a socialist utopia. However, Jones created a socialist government far from utopia. Members worked long hours, had phone calls or any communication censored, and harsh punishment was given to anyone who questioned Jones. After hearing about these living circumstances,

The Peoples Temple which was founded by Jim Jones, was a racially integrated church that focused on helping people in need. Jones originally established the Peoples Temple in Indianapolis, Indiana, but then moved it to Redwood Valley, California in 1966.

Earlier that month, the people’s temple had a visit by congressman Leo Ryan, who was there to investigate reports of abuse and overwork by relatives of Jonestown members. During his stay, numerous men and women had requested his assistance to help them get out of this horrid cult. Ryan opened up this offer to the rest of this community but in fear of their leader,

They would sing and dance to the music. They felt the services had life, soul and power they felt a live that what they took out of it. They would mainly be clapping hands and jumping up and down the reason where on how the services was lead. They stated that if a stranger outside their church come they didn't know about the political views and walked in their church hours they would had just thought it was an old time religious services. That the moment Jim Jones come in to preach they had already set up the service for him to talk about his views of religion. Of the world relationship to the human and the life of it. In their church every single person felt that they had a purpose in life they were suprical. Jim Jones preaching would show that he understood how it feel to be different or being the out cost of somewhere. He developed sensitivity for the problems of blacks. They would bring in many people in to the peoples temple the type of groups would be in where the young adults in college, elders, black women, it was just a widely range of diverse backgrounds. They all who entered to the peoples temple had a realization of they were something bigger than them self for the most part when Jim Jones

The People’s Temple was a new religious movement founded on April 4th, 1955 by founder James Warren Jones. The movement had over 1000 members and lived on together, segregated from the outside society in a small encampment of Jonestown in the country of Guyana. The encampment which claimed to be a utopia, over time changed into an environment delegates have never signed up to be a part of, being part of one of the world’s most unfortunate massacre incidents.

Due to the immense growth in the membership in the Peoples Temples once it was moved to California, branches were opened in cities such as San Francisco, San Fernando, and Los Angeles, causing the Temple’s headquarters to be moved to San Francisco. The Peoples Temple became involved in racial movements in the area, increasing

The late Apostle Arturo Skinner purchased the Temple as the spiritual headquarters for the Pentecostal Deliverance Movement. He bridged many gaps between ethnic and social groups by gathering various races and nationalities from around the world at the Temple.

In the PBS film, “Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples’ Temple”, it illustrates an extreme example of one radical religious leader's control over hundreds of people to the extent of convincing them to voluntarily commit a "revolutionary suicide" in their attempted utopian settlement in Guyana. In the 1970's various changes were being made and through social and cultural movements, including political and religious, people wanted something to believe in. They wanted to fight for a cause that would change the world. Jim Jones preyed on the members of the Peoples' Temple and gained his ultimate control through promoting activism, managing all the finances of each member while providing them with benefits, and through creating a sense of

The Hsi Lai Buddhist temple is located in Hacienda Heights and is the largest Buddhist temple in the West. The building was constructed to be a religious site by a Buddhist organization in Taiwan. The first thing that catches the attention, is the Chinese architecture of the temple and all of the Chinese words on the outside of the temple. The words on the four pillars of the gate, represent the four bodhisattva vows the Buddhists take to complete

The Peoples Temple was a racially integrated church established in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Temple with much push from investigations eventually made its way to the Northwest District of Guyana. The Temple where Jim Jones preached stressed the need for brotherhood and unity among all people. The congregation began with good intentions; helping feed the poor and give them jobs. However it quickly became a religious movement that manipulate its members into abiding by every word of their father (Jim Jones). The Temple began to ask more from its member than other churches during the 1970s did at the time. They required the members to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with Temple family instead of just your own. It also began a process known as

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 water wasn't clean because of plumbing issues, and they had little food. People couldn’t contact their families without permission, and their letters were read through to make sure they weren’t trying to sabotage Jonestown. Sirens woke people in the dead of night for suicide drills where everyone had to drink unknown liquids out of paper cups to show their loyalty. Jones had this as his backup, and told people this would be their way out if someone invaded the compound. Jim Jones wasn’t a beautiful human being though; he had mood swings and lost his temper at simple things. “Jones was becoming more ill and taking drugs. Jones let his mistresses make his decisions at times, and it wasn't organized like everyone thought. Wilson (a survivor) saw beatings of adults and children. "They would pair someone weaker with someone stronger and actually have boxing matches drawing blood," she said. She said there was a "green monster" that would administer electric shocks to dissenters, "You would hear the screaming."” (FBI). Leo Ryan was a representation of California that had an abundant interest in Jonestown. He requested to go, and Jones warned him it would be dangerous. He got his approval, and soon the word go out that he was going to be taking a trip to the compound. He took his advisor, a NBC news crew, and family members of the residents at Jonestown who were concerned. Jones welcomed them with

Greek and Roman temples are the most influential temples of all times. It is argued that the Greek influenced the Romans and this may be the reason why their temples are so alike. The Parthenon and the Pantheon are the most popular temples of both eras. However, the Pantheon does not look like other roman temples would to Greek temples – and this is because it has interior space and thus has a completely different composition. Despite their quite similar looks, Roman and Greek temples have unique differences in material, method, purpose, and others.