| | Jim Jones, leading his cult to a mass suicide on November 18, 1978, in a settlement in northern [[Guyana]]. In total, 914 members of the People's Temple cult died, including five people murdered at a nearby airstrip. | | Jim Jones, leading his cult to a mass suicide on November 18, 1978, in a settlement in northern [[Guyana]]. In total, 914 members of the People's Temple cult died, including five people murdered at a nearby airstrip. |
| − | In addition to being a [[leftism|leftist]], Jim Jones was an atheist.<ref>[http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=13143 An untitled collection of reminiscences by Jim Jones]</ref> Jones said about his [[atheism]], "I was an atheist even then, and at that funeral parlor they held me up to look at her, and when I got down, I was bitter."<ref>[http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=13143 An untitled collection of reminiscences by Jim Jones]</ref> Jones was frustrated with opposition to communism within the United States and which lead him to ask himself, "How can I demonstrate my [[Marxism]]? The thought was, infiltrate the church."<ref>Wessinger, Catherine (2000), How the Millennium Comes Violently: From Jonestown to Heaven's Gate, Seven Bridges Press, ISBN 978-1-889119-24-3</ref><ref>Jones, Jim. "[http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27339 Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 134]". Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University</ref> Jones was one of the most admired people in both the California and national [[Democratic party]]. <ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzyXNWYmfXg</ref> | + | In addition to being a [[leftism|leftist]], Jim Jones was an atheist.<ref>[http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=13143 An untitled collection of reminiscences by Jim Jones]</ref> Jones said about his [[atheism]], "I was an atheist even then, and at that funeral parlor they held me up to look at her, and when I got down, I was bitter."<ref>[http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=13143 An untitled collection of reminiscences by Jim Jones]</ref> Jones was frustrated with opposition to communism within the United States and which lead him to ask himself, "How can I demonstrate my [[Marxism]]? The thought was, infiltrate the church."<ref>Wessinger, Catherine (2000), How the Millennium Comes Violently: From Jonestown to Heaven's Gate, Seven Bridges Press, ISBN 978-1-889119-24-3</ref><ref>Jones, Jim. "[http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27339 Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 134]". Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University</ref> Jones was one of the most admired people in both the California and national [[Democratic party]]. <ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzyXNWYmfXg Jim Jones, The Most Admired Democrat of The 1970s, Censored Info], youtube</ref> |