Jim Jones claimed that the Peoples Temple had around 20,000 members in the mid 1970s. With this popularity, however, Jones’ message changed significantly during his efforts in California. During this same period, the foci of Jones’s sermons shifted away from religion and towards political theory.
Jim Jones’s “Divine Socialism”
Increasingly, Jones’s sermons became less religious and more political in nature. He began to invoke the philosophies of Karl Marx, and those that would build upon Marx’s theory of inevitable class conflict. Jones’s theology evolved into a strange amalgam of communism with his preexisting millenarian anticipation of nuclear apocalypse, a deep seated fear within the Peoples Temple patriarch, influenced greatly by Cold War political sensibilities.
In Salvation and Suicide, religious scholar, David Chidester provides excellent insight into the theology and worldview of Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple. Through a thorough examination of Jones's sermons, Chidester identified the elements of Peoples Temple theology:
· “The Sky God of religion” – Jones identified the God of the Bible as a “trickster” or false deity.
· "God is Principle, Principle is Love, and Love is Socialism.” Jones preached that the concept of socialism was God. Further, “Jim Jones is God because he is the embodiment of Divine Socialism.”
· Others were capable of attaining divine status, as Jones had, if they were able to embrace, understand, and live Divine Socialism.
The last principle of Jones’s theology was the most important to the group’s members. Referring to the majority of Peoples Temple members, former member, Don Beck commented, “we all had a belief in building a socially just and egalitarian community on earth.” According to Beck, members cared little about religious doctrine. However, they had no doubt that Jones was metaphysically “gifted,” and that he was the man to lead them to their goal.
Jim Jones and the Myth of Creation
Certainly, Jones did not just roll this message out on a random Sunday. He could not simply announce that he was God, and hope that everyone would believe. It was a gradual process, and it began by detaching his followers from the Bible by denouncing the book as one of a deceitful God.
Jim Jones employed the Bible in a selective manor by invoking verses that supported his message. This was particularly useful in supporting his status as a “God.” Jones employed the same strategy in representing socialism as true Christianity. Once he selected the verses that worked for him, Jones would then attack the mythology of the Bible. One example of such an attack is Jones's interpretation of the creation myth.
Jones significantly modified the story of creation, asserting that the "Sky God" created humanity by evacuating them as excrement. The "Sky God" purposely kept humans in an ignorant state so that they would blindly worship him, something that the lonely deity required in order to feed his enormous ego.
Many in the congregation found Jones's rendition to be hilarious. Those that did not find the story humorous usually stormed out of the church. Jones would heckle those that left early, effectively ensuring that they would not return. Jones eliminated his divine competition, so to speak, in order to present himself as the embodiment of the principle of "Divine Socialism."
Interestingly, as Jones indoctrinated the Peoples Temple congregation in Marxist ideology, he was making plans to put his message into practice in the jungles of Guyana, South America. While Jim Jones preached “Divine Socialism” to Californians, some of his most trusted associates were clearing the dense vegetation off land that was to become Jonestown.
Sources:
Beck, Don. “The Theology of Peoples Temple: A View from Inside.” Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple – Personal Reflections. 2007. 31 Mar. 2008. http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/.
David Chidester, Salvation and Suicide: Jim Jones, The Peoples Temple, and Jonestown, 2d ed., rev. Religion in North America, eds. Catherine L Albanese & Stephen J. Stein, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003).
Marshall Kilduff and Phil Tracy. “Inside Peoples Temple.” New West Magazine. 1 Aug. 1997. Reprinted at Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple – Primary Resources. SanDiego State University. Dec. 2006. 27 Feb. 2008. http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/PrimarySources/primary_resources.htm.
