Q. Why do you think Jones did this and what could have possibly
lead him to this solution?
A. Jones was a sociopath; it seems as if he was born this way
-- in fact, he tried to shoot one of his friends when he was only
10 years old. Jones was so terrified of abandonment that he would
kill people for wanting to leave his cult. He used the guise of
religion to seduce people and then would trap them. When Temple
members began to leave Jonestown with Congressman Ryan, he decided
to have his goons shoot them down. Then realizing what he had done,
he called for a "mass-suicide" of all those present in
Jonestown. Jones was also intoxicated from drugs, and had become
increasingly paranoid which exacerbated his sociopathic condition.
Q. Why did the people follow Jones for so long and why was he
able to recruit so many new people?
A. A lot of people join cults because they are lost, lonely, looking
for answers, or a family. Jones provided a false sense of security
for many people, and was also incredibly charismatic -- he was brilliant
at seducing and hypnotizing people -- he was very powerful that
way. Temple members who wanted to leave were often afraid to, and
so stayed, since they felt their lives were threatened. Those that
did leave were risking their life. And those that stayed with Jones
until the bitter end were either sociopathic themselves, brainwashed
or trapped -- not unlike a battered partner.
Q. Do you think that the price of religion was questioned after
this incident and so you feel that people were afraid to speak personally
with priests and other church cohorts?
A. I think what was most questioned was religious freedom, that
Jones literally got away with murder by shielding himself under
the guise of religion. I think the public was able to see that People's
Temple was a cult, not a true religion, and they were able to differentiate
between the two. I don't know if people were afraid to approach
priests and other church-goers, I really don't believe that organized
religion suffered too greatly after Jonestown.
Q. Do you think that religioius cults grew after the Jonestown
incident, or were these kinds of cults going on before?
A. Scientology was already being exposed a few years before our
father Lester Kinsolving investigated Jones in 1972. I think if
anything, cults died out for awhile, and the word "cult"
has carried a stigma ever since Jonestown. But, unfortunately, Scientology
is thriving, more than ever it seems, and cults still and always
will exist. It's a sad thing. However, I don't know if we'll ever
see the likes of Jonestown again, since cults are monitored regularly
by the press and by the government (i.e. Davidians in Waco)
Q. If there were doubts about Jones and Jonestown, why couldn't
the people stop him?
A. There were people that tried their best to -- Brenda Ganatos
and the Concerned Citizens up in Ukiah, our father, Carolyn Pickering
of the Indianapolis Star and the writers of the New West expose,
Phil Tracy and Marshall Kildfuff -- the article that drove Jones
to Guyana. The problem was, most people were hoodwinked -- and a
lot of corrupt people allowed themselves to be silenced by Jones
when he gave them money. The government didn't intervene because
they were doubtful a "religious organization" would commit
a federal crime by murdering a Congressman -- that is when they
finally stepped in and took this dangerous cult seriously. Religious
freedom, Right to Privacy, and Freedom of Speech protected People's
Temple from being further investigated like it should have by the
government.
Q. Do all cult leaders come from broken homes?
A. Not necessarily -- as I mentioned before, Jones was born a
sociopath; whatever abuse he endured at home probably contributed
to his evil-doings, but I'm certain not all sociopaths and cult
leaders come from broken homes.
Q. If people were so astounded by the aftermath of the Jonestown
incident, why do cults like this continue?
A. People's Temple was a doomsday-destructive cult -- I don't
think we'll ever see the likes of Jonestown again, at least not
in our lifetime -- but cults do, and will continue, just on a lesser
scale as compared to Jonestown.
Freedomofmind.com fully supports religious
freedom and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The fact that a person’s name or group appears on our website
does not necessarily mean they are a destructive mind control cult.
They appear because we have received inquiries and have established
a file on the group.
The Freedom of Mind Resource Center Inc. was established by cult expert Steve Hassan.
