Jennifer Regli
Cultural US History
MWF 8-8:50
Kingdom of Matthias
As a United States American culture there are many possibilities for a cult like Matthias to occur again, this is contributed by not only a market-oriented American culture but also by tendencies that are present in every society. We have rights and freedoms given to us by our United States Constitution, including the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion. These freedoms mean that anyone has the right to speak publicly about their religious beliefs, and we as citizens also have the right to believe what is being said and even follow it if we choose to do so. This is how many different branches of religions come about; some of these religions include Mormons and Episcopalians. But when one person decides to take their individual religion just one step to far, cults begin to form. Not all, but many cults in the United States are religious oriented, such as the ones lead by Jim Jones and David Koresh.
The Kingdom of Matthias: A Story of Sex and Salvation in 19th Century America provides parallels to modern equivalents such as Jim Jones and David Koresh, who were both were know to have lead religious cults. Reverend Jim Jones and the People’s Temple was a mass suicide cult that took the lives of 914 people. Jim Jones considered himself to be the reincarnation of Jesus, Buddha, the Father Devine, as well as other past religious leaders. “Jones said he visions of a nuclear holocaust in which the towns of Ukiah, California, and Beloltonzonte, Brazil will survive. With this is mind he relocated his 1st People’s Temple to Ukiah to await the Armageddon” (www.owlnet.rice.edu). After realizing it was not going to happen he moved his people to San Francisco just to be kicked right back out. He finally moved his followers to Guyana at a location now called Jonestown. One they were completely settled, Jones’s personality changed and he become and entirely different person. He began to stage rituals called ‘White Nights.’ Sirens would go off in the middle of the night and a mass meeting would take place. The followers would be given a glass of red liquid to drink. They were told that the liquid contained poison and that they would be dead in forty-five minutes. The followers never knew if it was just another drill or if it was the real thing. Finally in 1978 when outsiders began to raise question and concern, Jones decided to put his suicide plan into action. He assured his followers that this was a ‘revolutionary death.’
