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Introduction
The tragic events of Jonestown of November 1978, when a little known cult (the People’s Temple) operating in a remote part (Essequibo) of a little known country (Guyana) thrust itself into the pages of history now appear to be permanently etched in modern consciousness. The actions of Jim Jones and his large supporting cast in the isolated region of Guyana quickly moved from Breaking News to modern day epiphany, a vision of the heart of darkness as represented by the congregation of swollen bodies of men, women and children lying motionless around drums of cool-aid.
Recent evidence indicates that that vision still inhabits and haunts the modern consciousness. A restaurant in southern Indiana, as part of its new advertising campaign, erected billboards which had the following inscription “We’re like a cult, with better Kool-Aid. To die for”. This brash announcement resurrected recollections and associations that lay deep in the American unconscious. What was upsetting was not the invocation of November 1978 in itself, but the irreverence that subsumed that invocation, an irreverence that masqueraded as advertising cleverness. The appeal was misconceived and misdirected. The advertising gambit rested upon the assumption that a tragedy that occurred more than three decades ago was now sufficiently metabolised and at rest in the American psyche as to be the stimulus for billboard cleverness. Mistake. The denunciations which ensued were so forceful as to bring about a recall of the offensive billboards.
Another later incident, equally pertinent to this article, merits discussion here. In December 2004, a fire of electrical origin completely destroyed the 143-year old Church of the Sacred Heart in Georgetown, Guyana. This church was of great historical significance in Guyana, being testimony to the religious mission of the Jesuits and the church-going practices of the Portuguese in Guyana. In February 2011, a ceremony was held at the site of the burnt out structure to turn the sod for the reconstruction of the church. Reports in the local Press alluded to the historical significance of the church and its place of glory in Main Street, downtown Georgetown. Astonishingly, a report published by the Black Christian News of the USA carried the following headline “Guyana Group plans to rebuild Church tied to Jim Jones.” (blackchristiannews.com/…/guyana-group-plans-to-rebuild-church-tied-to-jim-jones.html) Completely eclipsing 143...