http://www.religionnewsblog.com Religion news about religious cults, sects, world religions, and related issues Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:15:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 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/22927/jim-jones http://www.religionnewsblog.com/22927/jim-jones#comments Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:46:33 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=22927 Cyanide was being bought and shipped to the Rev. Jim Jones' jungle compound in South America for at least two years before 900 Americans died there at the command of their cult leader, CNN has learned.

Jones led his followers to their death after his gunmen killed a visiting congressman, Rep. Leo Ryan, and four others, including an NBC News correspondent and his cameraman, on November 18, 1978.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/22927/jim-jones/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