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The Peoples Temple
During the mid 1950’s to early 1960’s, the African American Civil Rights Movement was in it’s prime time. Colored men and women were being discriminated and were being mistreated almost everywhere they went. By human nature, it would be ideal to fit in and be accepted for who you are, not for your color of skin. This was the perfect time for The Peoples Temple to come into play, starting off as a small church with a religious movement, the church gained a huge amount of followers from African Americans. Colored men and women felt comfortable joining this church with the main reason of equality. The Peoples Temple apparently offered equality and preached for socialism and that is what the followers of the movement were looking for. Behind every great movement is a strong and charismatic leader, The Peoples Temple was founded by Jim Jones who we now know was a very influential individual who abused the obedience and loyalty of his followers (Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple).
Jim Jones was born on May 13th, 1931, in the town Crete of Indiana but was raised in Lynn. Ever since his childhood days, people remembered him as a disturbed teen obsessed with the idea of death and religion. During his younger days, he captured animals and killed them in order to conduct a funeral for fun(Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple). Jones found this amusing and for some reason, nobody took this as an alarm that something might be
Lee 2 wrong with this individual. However, this was not the only alarming actions that was brought by Jones, in his teenage years, he showed that he was interested in the Pentecostalism movement and vandalized their established churches as well (Metcalf 336). Although ...
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... world that he possessed all the abilities that a great and charismatic leader should have but had a bad mindset causing the biggest mass suicide up to date.
Works Cited
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple. Dir. Stanley Nelson. Firelight Media, 2006. Documentary.
Metcalf, Bill. “Salvation and Suicide: Jim Jones, The Peoples Temple, and Jonestown.” Rev. of Salvation and Suicide: Jim Jones, The Peoples Temple, and Jonestown, by David Chidester. Utopian Studies June 2005: 335-338. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 May 2014.
Moore, Rebecca. "The Peoples Temple." Virginia Commonwealth University College of Humanities and Sciences. N.p., 22 June 2012. Web. 04 May 2014.
Reiterman, Tim, and John Jacobs. Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People. New York: Dutton, 1982. Print.
Cults are dangerous institutions that have existed for many years, corrupting and reforming the minds of innocent people into believing outrageous doctrines that eventually result in disaster. Horrifying cases involving men such as Charles Manson, Jim Jones and David Koresh have bewildered people and raise the question: how could individuals be easily susceptible to the teachings of these men, so influenced that masses go as far as to commit the unthinkable? Individuals who are in a vulnerable position in search for an identity are attracted to cults because they offer a sense of belonging. In addition, isolation from society contributes to the functioning of a cult for it creates an atmosphere where submissiveness and obedience runs high. These two factors seem to hold true for one of the most notorious cults currently established in the United States and Canada. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or, FLDS, is an international polygamist sect that incorporates belonging and isolation along with a dangerous mentality that have resulted in the abuse of women and children in the name of God.
For centuries religion has played a huge role in the black community. From slavery to freedom, religion has help black folk deal with their anger, pain, oppression, sadness, fear, and dread. Recognizing the said importance of religion in the black community, Black poets and writers like Phillis Wheatley and Richard Wright, use religion as an important motif in their literature. Wheatley uses religion as a way to convince her mostly white audience of how religious conversion validates the humanity of herself and others. Wright on the other hand, uses religion in order to demonstrate how religion, as uplifting as it is can fail the black community. Thinking through, both Wheatley and Wright’s writings it becomes apparent that religion is so complex,
This analysis is a compare and contrast essay between the book, 1984, and the society of Jonestown. Jonestown, was a community based on a religious group know as the People's Temple. This was a place, where people felt that they had control of their lives, when in reality they didn’t. Their leader, Jim Jones, was very manipulating and was able to convince almost the entire community to commit suicide together because of his paranoia. In 1984, people didn't even realize the need for freedom, because the government was already in control of every aspect of their lives. That is just one of the reasons Jonestown and 1984 are similar, but don't be mistaken, there are many differences too. The people in 1984 never were given a choice between freedom and being either a party member or a prole. The people involved in Jonestown were there on their own accord. The people of the People's Temple had at one point at least wanted to be there, and to follow their leader.
May, Henry F. The Recovery of American Religious History. The American Historical Review. Vol. 70, No. 1. 1964.
The rise of densely populated urban spaces in the United States from the beginning of the second great awakening has provoked a perception of secularism and depersonalization amongst the public. The Second Great Awakening was brought in part due to the need for moral revival based on the presumption that urban areas brought a downturn religious practice through temptation and access, and also as a means with which to alleviate the ills which urbanization brought with it through the rise of volunteer associations and missionary work.1 Moreover, Utopian societies gave citizens the opportunity to recreate a society devoid of these perceived ills and also gave rise to alternative modes of practice and expre...
...s already small portions of food and horrible tasks given to those who didn’t obey Jim Jones. Also, Reverend jones clearly didn’t mind the fact that he was forcing more than nine hundred people to commit suicide, a third if them children. Being me, I feel like the way Jim Jones treated these people, and the way he led this cult compound was completely wrong. I feel like Peoples Temple was a humungous mistake. I also feel truly sorry for those who lose friends and family in this horrible event and for those who went through this. Although this is all over the Jim jones Massacre will forever be remembered and never be forgotten.
People join cults as a way of feeling a sense of belonging within a community (Winner 2011:417). This need for belonging is eventually why members find themselves so involved that they cannot get out. This is especially true in the case of the cult created by Jim Jones. He established a cultic Church called the People’s Temple, most famously known for being the largest group suicide consisting of 909 people, including 276 children (Nelson 2006). Between five to seven million young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 are involved in cult groups (“Cult statistics” 2010). Nearly 180 000 people are recruited into cults each year (“Cult Statistics” 2010). The sense of identity, purpose, and belonging are appealing aspects to why people join cults as the use of power and manipulation coerces them to stay.
Mills, Jeannie. Six Years With God: Life Inside Rev. Jim Jones's Peoples Temple. New York: A&W Publishers, 1979.
We suspect Onesimus did get him in trouble were Onesimus had left due to a personal conflict with Philemon in order to heg for Paul's intercession. To this, "the slave, having been threatened hy Philemon, went after Paul's protection. Paul's issue on slavery in the Roman Empire led many scholars to regard the apostles to social disengaged religious figures. The basis was on the technical definition of the runaway slave (Cho, 2014).
...fortunately, when a person is given that much power and control over a large group of people their decisions as well as reasoning can become altered. In the case of Jim Jones his power lead to an enflamed ego, which led to a greed, not only of loyalty but of money. Money then lead to drug use, and in the end, drug use led to insanity. Those who are gifted with the ability to influence others have a huge responsibility. They must recognize what they have as a gift and not abuse what God has given them. Jim Jones is a person who had this gift as well as good intentions, yet he could not balance and keep in perspective that what he was doing was to benefit the world, not to benefit himself.
Charismatic authority is when a leader gains followers simply by the strength of his/her character. Jones was considered to be very enticing for women and a very good role model for men. As opposed to the norms of other social groups, charismatic authoritarians were not leaders based on a written law but by the will of the people who serve him. Because charismatic leaders are not linked to tradition, they are a danger to established groups due to their lack of care for legal authorities. By blindly following a leader like Jones, who was a master of manipulation, members were not aware of the damage they were doing by the order of Jones. Charismatic authoritarians gain loyal followers more easily than law written organizations, for the people follow charismatic authoritarians by their own free will rather than requirement. Being a large group formed outside of written laws instantly deviates it from other established groups. Because of Jones magnetic pull he was able to convince his group members that everything they were doing including the mass suicide were for the greater good. Having an icon tell you that you’re doing something for the greater good desensitizes you to the task you were asked to perform. An example of this is that the majority of the members viewed the suicide as a ‘sacrificial’ act for American society. Charismatic leaders are dangerous in that
Jim Jones could finally start his own church with all of the followers he had gained in 2 years. The first church was opened in Indianapolis in 1956 which he called the “peoples temple”. Jim thought that there was a bad balance in the world that the rich were way to rich and the poor were working way too hard for the little that they got. So the people’s temple helped get homes for the mentally ill and the elderly and also helped people find jobs. The temple grew larger and larger as the days went by, in 1966 Jim Jones decided ...
The Peoples Temple was first founded by Jim Jones in 1955 in the city of Indianapolis,Indiana. In 1956 Jim jones bought his very own church building the church was first called “Wings of Deliverance” and later that year it was renamed into ‘People’s Temple of Gospel Church.” His church has racially integrated, something
Jones does a lot of studying about ancient artifacts in the field of Archeology in Oxford. This helps with his further knowledge in the artifacts to save the world. He goes through many obstacles in both his job and on his journey. This includes mostly the Natzis, the Germans, a shapeshifter and even sometimes Maryann whom he has to save throughout the movie. He pushes through many things to get to his goal that he has set for himself. Although he isn’t making it a priority to become the hero in the story, he seems to find himself in the hero shoes because of the Campbell Theory.
Eastman, Roger. The Ways of Religion: An Introduction to the Major Traditions. Third Edition. Oxford University Press. N.Y. 1999