Religious extremism is a trait often associated with the political Right given their cultural
conservatism. But to think that the Left isn’t equally susceptible to religious extremism
would be a mistake. Some of America’s most deadly cult leaders were deeply entrenched
in leftist politics. For example, you’re probably aware of the Reverend Jim Jones and
the Peoples Temple; Jones at his Guyana settlement led the murder-suicide of 918 people by cyanide
poisoned flavor-aid after his cult murdered a congressman. What you might not know are
Jones' far-left bona fides. When college-aged, Jones attended Stalin-era Communist Party
meetings. Jones said of Stalin, “You’re never gonna make me dislike that man, no matter
how many tales you tell me.” Jones had the savvy insight that straightforward preaching
of communism draws few to it, but Christian tropes could draw far more. So Jones said
he was the reincarnation of Jesus… and also the reincarnation of Lenin. In his San Francisco
days Jones recruited followers with help from Black Panthers and other left-wing groups.
He was lauded by both the Left and the Democratic Party, including Gov. Jerry Brown and a rising
state legislator, Willie Brown, who would go on to become Mayor as well as Speaker of
the California Assembly (and mentor and lover of Kamala Harris). Brown savored how Jones
turned out hundreds of volunteers to campaign to elect Democrats. Brown declared, “San
Francisco should have ten more Jim Joneses”. Later, Brown would help Jones visit communist
Cuba, writing Castro that Jones was a “close personal friend and a highly trusted brother
in the struggle for liberation.” Jones extolled Cuba in general, only complaining that it
should be more zealous in its support of abortion and homosexuality. On his trip, Jones visited
one of his heroes, Black Panther leader Huey Newton, then hiding out in Cuba from murder
and assault charges, and discussed Newton’s book Revolutionary Suicide. Even after Jones
departed San Francisco for Jonestown, Guyana, Newton and American Communist Party politician
Angela Davis stuck by Jones. Newton and Davis spoke to Jonestown residents over loudspeakers,
with Davis feeding “Jonestown paranoia by telling residents of ‘a very profound conspiracy’
against Peoples Temple.” In his last recorded words, Jones echoed Newton, “We didn’t
commit suicide, we committed an act of revolutionary suicide protesting the conditions of an inhumane
world.” Shortly before the mass suicide, a Jonestown resident wrote a reporter and
said “we’ve found something to die for and it’s called … social justice.” But
Jim Jones is hardly the only example of left-wing cult violence. Consider the events in the
Oregon city formerly known as Rajneeshpuram, where Ma Anand Sheela, second-in-command
for the hippie religious commune, led the largest bioterror attack in United States
history. 751 individuals were poisoned with Salmonella to prevent them from voting against
the commune in a local election. Sheela also conspired with other cult members in a foiled
plot to assassinate a U.S. Attorney. There’s also the Children of God cult, still around
and now known as The Family International. That group recruited its first members from
the hippies who flocked to California during the “free love” era in the late
60’s. In line with that “free love” spirit, the group manipulated its women to
have sex with men in order to lure them into the cult. Less in line with the “free love”
spirit, they also forced the women to be paid prostitutes to fund the cult. The group also
organized the sexual abuse of children. Or look at Charles Manson’s “family”. While
Manson was a white supremacist, he too primarily recruited hippies to his cult and their bizarre
goals involved sparking a race war that militant leftist black nationalists would win. The
Manson family’s multiple murders at Sharon Tate’s house thrilled leftist Weatherman
terrorist Bernardine Dohrn, who exulted at a “war council” featuring posters of Castro,
Lenin, Mao, Malcolm X, and Black Panthers: “Dig It. First they killed those pigs, then
they ate dinner in the same room with them. They even shoved a fork into a victim’s
stomach! Wild!” The same meeting featured discussions of whether “killing white babies
was inherently revolutionary, since all white people are the enemy.” There’s even a
Church of Euthanasia, which is so environmentalist their slogan is “Save the Planet; Kill Yourself”.
Religious extremism comes in various political flavors. Next time you hear someone on the
Left accuse the Christian right of “extremism”, don’t forget the long history of deadly
religious extremism that’s come from their side. I’m Scott Walter. If you liked this
video, read more on our website about how Jim Jones and other left-wing radicals of
the past connect to today’s radical Left. Thanks for watching!