JIM JONES KILLED 914 BY POISON, WHERE 214 WERE CHILD IN AMERICAN HISTORY ON 1978 NOVEMBER 18 IN THE NAME OF GOD
JIM JONES KILLED 914 BY POISON, WHERE 214 WERE CHILD IN AMERICAN HISTORY ON 1978 NOVEMBER 18 IN THE NAME OF GOD Jim Jones attracted a large following to his Peoples Temple through sermons on tolerance, social responsibility and community. As the church grew, however, the sermons on equality and tolerance were belied by his own increasing demands for personal loyalty and obedience. The extent of his authority meant that his eventual breakdown transformed a personal tragedy into one of the largest mass deaths in American history. Childhood Jones’ parents were James Thurman Jones, a veteran of the Great War and victim of mustard gas who lived on disability payments, and the much younger Lynetta Jones, a feisty, independent woman who would eventually follow her son to Guyana. James came from Baptist and Quaker lineages but Lynetta had doubts about a “sky god” and laughed off the neighbors who were sure she “was going to hell straighter than a bird could fl...