![]() Because of this and the Temple's constant fear of conspiracies by outsiders opposing its message, new members were carefully screened. However, Jones' faith healing ceremonies were problematic for the Temple, as they also drew some religious conservatives who were less likely to join a socialist organization. The liberal, counter-cultural stronghold of San Francisco better reflected the Temple's politics than conservative Indiana, and relocating to San Francisco permitted Jones and his followers to be open with their ideology. īy August 1975, Jones had completely abandoned prior plans to make Redwood Valley an internal "promised land." The reversal of the direction of Temple efforts from rural areas back into urban areas, where it had focused when located in Indiana, was complete. While the Temple's Los Angeles facility initially attracted a larger, mostly African-American membership, the Temple later enticed hundreds of devoted Los Angeles members to move north to San Francisco to attend Temple meetings at Geary Boulevard. The Temple purchased the Geary Boulevard building for $122,500 in 1972. In 1971, the Temple established a permanent facility in San Francisco at 1859 Geary Boulevard, an old building in the city's Western Addition that used to be a Scottish Rite temple a Los Angeles facility followed two years later. ![]() The building at 1859 Geary Blvd after the 1906 earthquake. The Temple had previously held services in San Francisco and Los Angeles since 1970. By 1972, despite the Temple still calling its Redwood Valley facility the "mother church" of a statewide movement, moving the seat of power to an urban area seemed a strategic necessity. When the Temple expanded its operations into the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1970s, its staff concentrated on advertising the organization's bus caravans to attract new converts, including the handing out of free trinkets. Its headquarters later moved into San Francisco, where Jones remained until July 1977, when he fled with almost 1,000 Temple members to the cult's remote settlement at Jonestown, Guyana following an investigative article in New West magazine. By the mid-1970s, the organization possessed over a dozen locations in California, including in San Francisco and Los Angeles. While the Temple originated in suburban Indiana, the congregation moved to Redwood Valley, California in the late 1960s after Jones predicted a nuclear apocalypse that would facilitate the beginning of a socialist Eden on earth. ![]() The Peoples Temple began in 1955 as a racially integrated Christian church founded by Reverend Jim Jones. Main articles: Peoples Temple and Jim Jones 11.3 San Francisco media and the Concerned Relatives.8.3 Unita Blackwell, the Mills and other conspiracies.7.3 Angela Davis and the American Indian Movement.6 The San Francisco Housing Authority Commission.5.4 Help with Harvey Milk's 1976 race for the California State Assembly.5.3 Involvement in George Moscone's 1975 mayoral race.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |