Most of the time, when someone speaks about cults (okay, that sort of conversation is quite rare), it reminds people about mass suicides or murder committed by fanatical cult members. But in fact not all cults are this dangerous; it’s just that people have a nasty tendency to remember only the bloody pages of the story. Those sects often tends to be apocalyptical, their members strongly believe that this world is going to disappear tomorrow…
So, let’s have a look at one those destructive cults Identity Card.
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Destructive Cult #1:
Cult’s Name: Peoples Temple
Leader’s Name: James Warren "Jim" Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978)
Number of followers: estimated 20,000 in the 70s [1] / about 990 in Jonestown
Date of creation: 1950s in Indianapolis, Indiana
Description of their Beliefs: People in Jonestown (i.e. the place where Peoples Temple’s most important member lived altogether in what they believed as a utopic community) believed in socialism. They considered that it was the Bible’s message to share everything and to support each other and that the kingdom of God could be established on earth by life in an apostolic community. They also were partisans of racial equality.
Some sites tell that they assumed that a nuclear holocaust was going to destruct the world, but I did not find any valuable document that corroborates this idea.
End: "Nine hundred and nine people died at Jonestown including 294 children under the age of 18" (Wessinger 2000, p. 31). Eighty-five members survived either because they hid, ran into the jungle, or were not in Jonestown that day. Jones himself "died of gunshot wounds" (Wessinger 2000, p. 31).
Sources:
So, let’s have a look at one those destructive cults Identity Card.
___________
Destructive Cult #1:
Cult’s Name: Peoples Temple
Leader’s Name: James Warren "Jim" Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978)
Number of followers: estimated 20,000 in the 70s [1] / about 990 in Jonestown
Date of creation: 1950s in Indianapolis, Indiana
Description of their Beliefs: People in Jonestown (i.e. the place where Peoples Temple’s most important member lived altogether in what they believed as a utopic community) believed in socialism. They considered that it was the Bible’s message to share everything and to support each other and that the kingdom of God could be established on earth by life in an apostolic community. They also were partisans of racial equality.
Some sites tell that they assumed that a nuclear holocaust was going to destruct the world, but I did not find any valuable document that corroborates this idea.
End: "Nine hundred and nine people died at Jonestown including 294 children under the age of 18" (Wessinger 2000, p. 31). Eighty-five members survived either because they hid, ran into the jungle, or were not in Jonestown that day. Jones himself "died of gunshot wounds" (Wessinger 2000, p. 31).
Sources:
- Wessinger, Catherine. How the Millennium Comes Violently: From Jonestown to Heaven's Gate. New York: Seven Bridges Press, 2000.
- [1] Marshall Kilduff and Phil Tracy, "Inside Peoples Temple;” New West Magazine; August 1, 1977 edition
Other:
People's Temple movie, released 1973
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0234446/
Cult’s Name: Branch DavidiansLeader’s Name: David Koresh (Vernon Wayne Howell) (1959 -1993)
Famous for...: the Waco Tragedy. On 19th of April 1993, 82 persons died, including 21 children and David Koresh himself. The cause of the death is still under question, some says that they died in the fire provoked by the Us armed Forces dubble attack, other that they committed suicide.
Sources:
More :
And a film by Rick Van Vleet, Stephen M. Novak, Michael McNulty & Jason Van Vleet; Waco - A New Revelation
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Leader's Name: Marshall Herff "Do" Applewhite and Bonnie "Ti" Lu Trusdale Nettles, a.k.a. "The Two."
Famous for...: the suicide of 39 of its 40 members. "They had each drunk a lethal cocktail of drugs mixed with vodka in a deluded attempt to leave earth and board an alien spaceship. [1]"
Sources:
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