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[[File:Jim Jones shares the Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Jim Jones shares the Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award. The Award was endorsed by former Democratic presidential nominee [[Hubert Humphrey]], [[Vice-President]] [[Walter Mondale]], Carter Secretary of [[HHS]] Joseph Califano, [[Watergate]] Committtee chairman Sen. [[Sam Ervin]], Democratic Senators Warren Magnusen, Philip Hart, [[Mike Gravel]], [[Scoop Jackson]], Representatives [[Ronald Dellums]], [[Bella Abzug]], Patsy Mink, Philip Burton, Don H. Clauson, George E. Brown, Jr., Lawrence Coughlin, Cardiss Collins, Don Edwards, R. Eckhardt, Jonathan Bingham, ''[[Washington Post]]'' owner publisher Katherine Graham, San Fransisco Mayor [[George Moscone]], Art Agnos, and [[Willie Brown]]. <ref>[https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=18355 Peoples Temple Endorsements Packet (Text)].</ref>]]

[[File:Jim Jones shares the Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Jim Jones shares the Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award. The Award was endorsed by former Democratic presidential nominee [[Hubert Humphrey]], [[Vice-President]] [[Walter Mondale]], Carter Secretary of [[HHS]] Joseph Califano, [[Watergate]] Committtee chairman Sen. [[Sam Ervin]], Democratic Senators Warren Magnusen, Philip Hart, [[Mike Gravel]], [[Scoop Jackson]], Representatives [[Ronald Dellums]], [[Bella Abzug]], Patsy Mink, Philip Burton, Don H. Clauson, George E. Brown, Jr., Lawrence Coughlin, Cardiss Collins, Don Edwards, R. Eckhardt, Jonathan Bingham, ''[[Washington Post]]'' owner publisher Katherine Graham, San Fransisco Mayor [[George Moscone]], Art Agnos, and [[Willie Brown]]. <ref>[https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=18355 Peoples Temple Endorsements Packet (Text)].</ref>]]

Jim Jones was an avowed [[atheist]].<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 which lead him to ask, "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>  

Jim Jones was an avowed [[atheist]].<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 which lead him to ask, "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>  

The Temple openly preached to established members that "religion is an opiate to the people."<ref>Jones, Jim. [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27318 "Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 1053."] ''Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple''. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University.</ref> Accordingly, "those who remained drugged with the opiate of religion had to be brought to enlightenment - socialism."<ref>Layton 1999, page 53.</ref> In that regard, Jones also openly stated that he "took the church and used the church to bring people to atheism." <ref>Jones, Jim. [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27580 "Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 757."] ''Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple''. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University.</ref> Jones often mixed those concepts, such as preaching that "If you're born in this church, this socialist revolution, you're not born in sin. If you're born in [[capitalist]] America, [[racist]] America, [[fascist]] America, then you're born with a big d***o in sin. But if you're born in socialism, you're not born in [[sin]]."<ref>Jones, Jim. [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27318 "Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 1053."] ''Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple''. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University. {{cite web |url=http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/Tapes/Tapes/TapeTranscripts/Q757.html |title=Archived copy |accessdate=|deadurl=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/5wTIqQUvL?url=http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/Tapes/Tapes/TapeTranscripts/Q757.html |archivedate=2019-01-30|df= }}</ref> Speaking to the Jonestown community, Jones declared: {{quotebox|"I brought you here to regroup, recoup, rehabilitate and gain strength, and militancy, and a proper education in [[Marxist-Leninism]], which you had never picked up, even though I was avowedly, openly Marxist-Leninist and atheist, you have never picked it up, for the most part, in the United States, except for a handful."<ref>The Jonestown Institute, “[http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27388 Q235 Transcript],”  Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple.</ref>}} Jim Jones ridiculed the [[Bible]], stomped on it in front of his flock, and instructed his followers to use it as toilet paper when their supply ran out in Jonestown.

The Temple openly preached to established members that "religion is an opiate to the people."<ref>Jones, Jim. [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27318 "Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 1053."] ''Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple''. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University.</ref> Accordingly, "those who remained drugged with the opiate of religion had to be brought to enlightenment - socialism."<ref>Layton 1999, page 53.</ref> In that regard, Jones also openly stated that he "took the church and used the church to bring people to atheism." <ref>Jones, Jim. [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27580 "Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 757."] ''Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple''. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University.</ref> Jones often mixed those concepts, such as preaching that "If you're born in this church, this socialist revolution, you're not born in sin. If you're born in [[capitalist]] America, [[racist]] America, [[fascist]] America, then you're born with a big d***o in sin. But if you're born in socialism, you're not born in [[sin]]."<ref>Jones, Jim. [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27318 "Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 1053."] ''Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple''. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University. {{cite web |url=http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/Tapes/Tapes/TapeTranscripts/Q757.html |title=Archived copy |accessdate=|deadurl=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/5wTIqQUvL?url=http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/Tapes/Tapes/TapeTranscripts/Q757.html |archivedate=2019-01-30|df= }}</ref> Speaking to the Jonestown community, Jones declared: {{quotebox|"I brought you here to regroup, recoup, rehabilitate and gain strength, and militancy, and a proper education in [[Marxist-Leninism]], which you had never picked up, even though I was avowedly, openly Marxist-Leninist and atheist, you have never picked it up, for the most part, in the United States, except for a handful."<ref>The Jonestown Institute, “[http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27388 Q235 Transcript],”  Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple.</ref>}} Jim Jones ridiculed the [[Bible]], stomped on it in front of his flock, and instructed his followers to use it as toilet paper when their supply ran out in Jonestown.