Jonestown in 1956, a Church

Jonestown

In 1956, a church which combined evangelical Christianity and "loosely socialist politics" called the People's Temple was formed in Indianapolis under the leadership of pastor Jim Jones, who performed healings to help attract a congregation of predominantly black families (Kurtz-Nichol & Miller, 1993). Twenty-two years later, on November 18, 1978, 914 members of the People's Temple lay dead in the Jonestown compound in Guyana. The path that led from a religious organization to a cultish mass-suicide, or perhaps something even more sinister, is a complex one, and the truth of what went on at Jonestown is still a matter of much debate. There are many conspiracy theories, some of which have proved financially profitable to the people who expound them, and others with greater or lesser degrees of plausibility abound on the Internet (Moore, 2002). Yet as David Chidester points out in his book on the Jonestown incident, even the official version of events has ample room for introspection and horror at the capabilities of human beings through force and charisma (Chidester, 2003).

Throughout the sixties and the early part of the seventies, the People's Temple continued to grow in both the size of the congregation and in influence. Jim Jones was appointed the director of the Indianapolis Human Rights Commission in 1960, and a year later his church became a part of the larger network of the Disciples of Christ, which ordained Jim Jones in 1964 (Kurtz-Nichol & Miller, 1993). By 1967, Jones and the People's Temple were well-known and well respected in many circles, yet many outside the group -- especially family members of those who belonged to the People's Temple -- began to grow concerned about possible human rights violations within the group itself, including beatings and other punishments that some members reported suffering for disobedience to their leader, Jim Jones (Kurtz-Nichol & Miller, 1993; Chidester, 2003). At some point Jones, perhaps due to pressure from the growing mistrust of his organization, moved his congregation to a compound in Guyana, where he exerted more and more control over his followers and reportedly made claims to be the reincarnation of Jesus, the Buddha, and other figures from religion and history (Kurtz-Nichol & Miller, 1993). Though it was certain that at this point Jones had many powerful political connections, it is suspected by many that there were secret ties that provided the real impetus for his move to Guyana, either as a means of escaping the hidden power structure that was after him, or perhaps of aiding the CIA in covert operations they were conducting in Guyana (Moore, 2002).