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In Search Of... Season
6 # 7, JIM JONES
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The
reverent Jim Jones was one of the most bizarre religious leaders America has
ever known. On November 18th 1978 he ordered his followers to
commit suicide. Why did over 900 follow one man to their doom?
As a boy he
had become captivated by fundamentalist Christianity. He preached racial
integration. Haunted by visions of nuclear apocalypse he moved with his
followers to a country farm. A warm hearted congregation of mutual
acceptance and respect and love lived under his guidance.
Jim Jones was highly respected in San Francisco.
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In the gatherings he made people
bring their bibles, threw the bibles down and stepped on them, later used the
paper as toilet paper. He used people’s fears and hopes to guide them in his
church called "People's Temple".
In his church he made people come to the front and say something
negative about others, a witness states. When his practices were questioned
in a newspaper Jones organized a demonstration to stop them.
He had relationships with members and raped members
of his congregation. An interviewee witnesses that she had been raped.
The disciplines in Jonestown, the place the hundreds of
people stayed, became extreme. While working in the fields people heard his
voice. Guards watched the people so that they did not talk to each other
while working. For the Jonestown people he became the people’s whole world.
When a newsgroup headed by Congressman Ryan visited the place they first saw
the peace at the place and the praise for Jones. The next day when the crew
wanted to leave people tried to
escape and to leave with the crew. They all got to the airport and there
they were shot, leaving only very few survivors. Soon later Jones ordered the
mass suicide in Jonestown.
