The People's Temple Cult

A cult can be roughly defined as a relatively small body of people having, often religious, beliefs and practices that are regarded by others as dark or menacing. Some more formally known as New Religious Movements (NRM), cults come in many various categories and extremes from religious, racist, and terrorist cults to mass transformational, new age, and commercial multi-marketing cults- but the list goes on. (Lalich, 2006). Cults deploy several methods to draw in potential members. They frequently target gullible individuals who are going through a major life change such as a divorce, the death of a family member, or loss of a job. The process that cults use to recruit new members usually begins with an invitation to a non-threatening event,

Because of the vast interpretations of holy texts such as the Bible, religious groups following such texts come in a wide variety or extremes. Take, for example, the case of the religious cult called “People’s Temple.” The People’s Temple cult was started by a man named Jim Jones. Jones deployed several methods to draw in members, but attracted a particularly large amount of African Americans from 1950 to 1970 because of his progressive views on racial equality. In fact, by 1971, the 20,000 strong cult was comprised of all races- 75% black, 20% white, and 5% asian, hispanic, and native american (Wunrow, R. 2011). Reports say that the group falsely idolized Jones, who they saw as an all-knowing deity. Inside the group, members were locked inside a communal living compound and humiliated and punished when resisting. The tensions within the compound became so high that violence was widespread and common. Their remote location, “Jonestown” as it is was called, was visited by congressman Leo Ryan on November 18, 1978. After a few of the cult members expressed a desire to leave back to San Francisco, a group of cultists opened fire on the group of defectors and the congressman while at the airport, killing Leo Ryan and four others. That evening, Jim Jones ordered a cultwide mass suicide by means of drinking a cyanide laced kool-aid mixture. In all, a total of 918 people died, including 276 children (Wunrow, 2011). To think that a tragedy such as this occurred all due to one man’s delirious misconceptions about the world paired with his strong interrelationship skills a bit scary. This highlights the endless power that some cult leaders demand and obtain when followed by so many. Like in the People’s Temple case, the great renown of a cult leader can have a positive effect on the popularity of a group, but negative media