http://www.religionnewsblog.com Religion news about religious cults, sects, world religions, and related issues Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:59:48 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25997/peoples-temple-memorial-dedicated http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25997/peoples-temple-memorial-dedicated#comments Mon, 30 May 2011 04:51:30 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=25997
Controversially the memorial includes the name of the Peoples Temple cult's leader -- mass murdered Jim Jones.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25997/peoples-temple-memorial-dedicated/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25411/peoples-temple-observance-jonestown-memorial-rift http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25411/peoples-temple-observance-jonestown-memorial-rift#comments Fri, 19 Nov 2010 21:57:38 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=25411 At the 32nd annual Jonestown memorial, held at an Evergreen Cemetery mass grave for Peoples Temple victims, a schism among mourners led to competing ceremonies - one led by a woman who lost 27 family members in the mass suicide in Guyana, the other by Jim Jones Jr.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25411/peoples-temple-observance-jonestown-memorial-rift/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24004/my-fathers-house-play-about-jonestown http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24004/my-fathers-house-play-about-jonestown#comments Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:38:05 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=24004 While reading an exposé about San Francisco preacher and cult leader Jim Jones in 1977, Ken White was surprised to see mention of Michael Prokes, an old friend who had become a spokesperson for Jones.

Prokes killed himself a few months after the mass murder/suicide took place at the cult's compound. White has now turned his friend's story into a play. ]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24004/my-fathers-house-play-about-jonestown/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23922/jonestown-cult-suicide-plague http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23922/jonestown-cult-suicide-plague#comments Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:00:12 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23922 It has taken more than 30 years, but the government of Guyana has erected a memorial plaque at the site of the Jonestown cult massacre, a dark episode the South American country had long sought to downplay.

A simple, white stone plaque was unveiled with little fanfare Wednesday at the jungle clearing where more than 900 members of the cult led by the American preacher Jim Jones died in a night of mass murder and suicide on Nov. 18, 1978.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23922/jonestown-cult-suicide-plague/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/22936/peoples-temple-2 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/22936/peoples-temple-2#comments Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:19:32 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=22936 30 years ago more than 900 men, women and children were massacred in a murder-suicide ritual thought up by cult leader Jim Jones.

On Nov. 18, 1978, members of the Jonestown security unit shot and killed congressman Leo Ryan, three journalists and one defector as they attempted to leave an airstrip near the settlement on two planes. The gunmen injured 10 other people, including Speier, who sustained five gunshot wounds.

By the time the airstrip gunmen returned to Jonestown, Jones had gathered his people in the pavilion and had begun preparing them for the end. He used news of Ryan's shooting to convince the throng that they had no hope, no future, no place to go. "The congressman has been murdered!" he said. "Please get the medication before it's too late. Don't be afraid to die." ]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/22936/peoples-temple-2/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21558/jackie-speier-jonestown http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21558/jackie-speier-jonestown#comments Sat, 31 May 2008 09:44:30 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=21558
In November 1978, Speier, then a 28-year-old legal aide to Rep. Leo J. Ryan (D-Calif.), accompanied the maverick lawmaker, a handful of reporters and concerned family members into the jungles of Guyana to investigate the People's Temple cult. Cult members attacked and killed Ryan and several members of the entourage.

Speier was shot five times and left for dead, and more than 900 cult members committed mass suicide at the urging of their leader, Jim Jones.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21558/jackie-speier-jonestown/feed 0