Jonestown: Jim Jones and The Peoples Temple

One of my (J) earliest memories in life is the mass suicide of over 900 member of “Jonestown” a/k/a The Peoples’ Temple. Jonestown was named for Jim Jones, a white preacher who built and developed a massive, interracial following in San Francisco during the late 1960s and 70s. Jonestowns’ membership was mostly black, but consisted of people of all races. As the church grew larger, members began to sell their possessions and collectivize their assets for what they percieved as their mutual good. After the State of California began to pressure the group, Jones and his followers began building a communal sanctuary in Guyana, South America. In 1978, after a California Congressman flew to Guyana to investigate the sanctuary, Jones encouraged over 900 of his followers to drink Kool-Aid laced with scionide. Jones put a bullet in his own head.

Jones’ incredibly powerful message allowed him to take control over the lives and minds of his congregation. In his black cadence, he preached fervently against racism, sexism and individualism. At the same time, Jones had sexual relationships with scores of members - both men and women. In the last few years of Jonestown, Jones began using drugs heavily.

The vast majority of people view the Jonestown deaths as a mass suicide; some - more pointedly - a mass murder. But others see Jonestown’s residents, with their fervent belief in God, love, racial equality and communalism, as having engaged in a Jesus-like spiritual liberation that can only achieved through death. For me, learning more about Jonestown made me reconsider how following Jesus must have looked like to the non-followers of the time. Picture this: an itinerant preacher comes to your town, convinces you to give up everything you own and love, and requires that you travel with him for the rest of your life doing charitable works. 99% of people would call you a fool, and that’s what people said about Jonestowns’ members. So whose to judge? At the risk of sounding like I am condoning what occurred at Jonestown - and I am not - I do believe that viewing death as liberation from life is consistent with Christianity. I also believe that for many spiritually intense people - Jesus, King, Tupac, for example - death is almost hoped for. So how can one condone Jonestowns’ mass suicide but applaud Jesus taking up his cross?

PBS ran an riveting episode of “American Experience” called “Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple.” Check it out.