page_title: Peoples Temple
section_title: San Francisco Temple
hierarchical_section_title: Peoples Temple / San Francisco Temple
caption_attribution_description: English: Peoples Temple members Hazel Dashiell, with Mark Fields behind her at the rally to save the International Hotel, 848 Kearny Street, January 1977 in San Francisco. Photo by Nancy Wong
context_page_description: The Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ, commonly shortened to Peoples Temple, was an American new religious movement which existed between 1955 and 1978. Originally founded in Indianapolis, Indiana by Reverend Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple spread a message that combined elements of Christianity with communist and socialist ideology, with an emphasis on racial equality. After Jones moved the group to California in the 1960s and established several locations throughout the state, including its headquarters in San Francisco, the Temple forged ties with many left-wing political figures and boasted 20,000 members.
  The Temple is best known for the events of November 18, 1978, in Guyana, when 909 people died in a mass murder at its remote settlement, named "Jonestown", as well as the murders of U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan and members of his visiting delegation at the nearby Port Kaituma airstrip. The incident at Jonestown resulted in the greatest single loss of American civilian life in a deliberate act prior to the September 11 terrorist attacks. Because of the killings in Guyana, the Temple is regarded by scholars and by popular view as a destructive cult.
context_section_description: The move to San Francisco permitted Jones to be more open with his true political and theological leanings. By spring 1976, Jones openly admitted even to outsiders that he was an atheist. Despite the Temple's fear that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was investigating its religious tax exemption, Marceline admitted to The New York Times in 1977 that her husband, taking inspiration from Mao Zedong, was trying to achieve social change by mobilizing people through religion. She admitted that, "Jim used religion to try to get some people out of the opiate of religion" and had slammed the Bible on the table yelling, "I've got to destroy this paper idol!"
  With the move into San Francisco, the Temple more strenuously emphasized that its members live communally. It stressed physical discipline of children first, and then adults. The San Francisco Temple also carefully vetted newcomers through an extensive observation process.
  The Temple distinguished itself from most new religious movements with its overtly political message. It combined those genuine political sympathies with the perception that it could help turn out large numbers of votes to gain the support of a number of prominent politicians. Jones made it known after he moved to San Francisco that he was interested in politics, and legal changes in the way San Francisco elections were held strengthened the power of neighborhood groups and civic organizations such as the Temple.
  After the Temple's voter mobilization efforts proved instrumental in George Moscone's run for mayor of San Francisco in 1975, he appointed Jones as Chairman of the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission. Jones and the Temple received the support of California political figures such as Moscone, Jerry Brown, Mervyn Dymally, Willie Brown, Art Agnos, and Harvey Milk. Willie Brown visited the Temple numerous times and spoke publicly in support of Jones, even after investigations and suspicions of cult activity. Jones and Moscone met privately with then-running mate Walter Mondale in San Francisco days before the 1976 presidential election. Jones also met First Lady Rosalynn Carter on multiple occasions, including a private dinner, and corresponded with her in letters.
  Jones used his position at the Housing Authority to lead the fight against the eviction of tenants from San Francisco's International Hotel. The Temple further forged an alliance with San Francisco Sun Reporter publisher Carlton Goodlett and received frequent favorable mentions in that paper. It also received frequent favorable coverage from San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen and other local newspaper and television reporters.
  However, the Temple aroused police suspicion after Jones praised the Symbionese Liberation Army, a radical Bay Area group, and its leaders attended San Francisco Temple meetings. Further suspicions were raised after the defection of Joyce Shaw and the mysterious death soon after of her husband, Bob Houston. After tension rose between the Temple and the Nation of Islam in San Francisco, the group held a large "spiritual" jubilee at the Los Angeles Convention Center attended by thousands, including prominent political figures, to heal the rift.
  While the Temple forged media alliances, the move to San Francisco also opened the group to media scrutiny. When Jones and hundreds of Temple members fled to the Temple's Guyana settlement following media investigations, Mayor Moscone issued a press release stating that his office would not investigate the Temple. During this time, Milk spoke at Temple political rallies and wrote a letter to President Jimmy Carter after the investigations began, accused Timothy Stoen, who by that point had defected from the Temple and was attempting to extricate relatives from Guyana, of telling "bold-faced lies".
caption: Peoples Temple members included the elderly as well as youth. Hazel Dashiell, with Mark Fields at an anti-eviction rally in San Francisco's Chinatown, 1977.
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