International Journal of Cultic Studies Vol. 4, 2013 47
him.45 The efforts of the Concerned Relatives
played into Jones’ paranoia of infringement
from the outside.46 Thus, after murdering the
congressman and some of his entourage, Jones
proclaimed that it was time for his people to “die
with dignity” it was time for “revolutionary
suicide.” On November 18, 1978, more than
nine hundred Jonestown residents drank or were
forcibly injected with cyanide-laced Flavor-Aid
in “protest” of what Jones believed was going to
happen to them.47
Theoretical Perspectives
Partially because of the reactionary and
rebellious tendencies that I have summarized in
the three communist-type groups, religion is a
topic that has been central to many Marxist
critiques of society. Karl Marx (1818–1883)
called religion “the table of contents of
theoretical battles,”48 thereby acknowledging
that in the past the majority of theoretical
conflicts have taken place within the discourse
of religion. Engels and the revisionists carried
on this critique of religion. They engaged with,
and expanded on, what Marx argued previously.
Thus, they produced a more nuanced and tactful
analysis of religion—one that certainly applies
to various communistic religious communes.
Marx on Religion
Marx’s description of religion was functional.
He understood it to be a “substance” that dulls
the pain of exploitation.49 In his own words,
“Religion is the sigh of an oppressed creature,
the feeling of a heartless world, and the soul of
soulless circumstances. It is the opium of the
people.”50 It directs a person’s consciousness
away from both the material world and the
material struggles that exist within it. This
misdirection occurs through religion’s provision
of rituals and ideologies, such as prayer and a
45 Mathews, “The Cult of Death,” pp. 15–16.
46 Hall, p. 210.
47 Mathews, pp. 12–14 Scheeres, pp. 229–232. Considering that
numerous children and other individuals were forced to take part in
Jones’s “protest,” it is likely more accurate to call the events in
Jonestown a “murder-suicide” ritual than a “mass suicide” ritual
(Kent, “House of Judah, the Northeast Kingdom Community, and
‘the Jonestown Problem,’” p. 31 Scheeres, p. 234).
48 Marx, “A Correspondence of 1843,” p. 44.
49 McKown, p. 52.
50 Marx, “Towards a Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right,”
p. 72.
belief in an afterlife, that enable one to detach
from one’s immediate surroundings. According
to Marxists, invoking such concepts provides a
capitalist society with ideal conditions for the
continued exploitation of a religiously deluded
proletariat.51
For Marx, religion dehumanized the masses.
That is, religion stood to reduce humanity to
something less than it was. Marx compared the
“brutalization” of man by the state to religion.52
In jest, Marx stated, “But this [brutalization] is
no contradiction of religiosity, for the animal
religion is the most consistent manifestation of
religion, and perhaps it will soon be necessary to
speak of religious zoology instead of religious
anthropology.”53 Marx felt that we needed to
reawaken “the self-worth of men—freedom,”
something that the dominant classes
progressively had drained from humanity since
the Greeks and had completely emptied with the
arrival of Christianity.54
Also key to Marx was the source, or etiology, of
religion. Marx was adamant about religion’s
artificiality and explained, “...man makes
religion, religion does not make man. Religion
is indeed the self-consciousness and self-
awareness of man who either has not yet
attained to himself or has already lost himself
again.”55 Marx believed that religion, which the
51 In this situation, religion provides what Marxist’s have called
“false consciousness.” Although Marx never directly used this
term, Engels revealed the following about the concept:
Ideology is a process accomplished by the so-called thinker
consciously, indeed, but with a false consciousness. The real
motives impelling him remain unknown to him, otherwise it
would not be an ideological process at all. Hence he imagines
false or apparent motives (Engels, “Engels to Franz Mehring”).
In other words, false consciousness involves conditions that
prevent the working class from understanding its own economic
interests and from being unable to comprehend the history that has
led its members to a current situation of oppression (Morrision,
Marx Weber Durkheim: Formations of Modern Social Thought,
p. 314).
52 Marx, “Letter to Arnold Ruge (in Dresden),” p. 231.
53 Marx, “Letter to Arnold Ruge (in Dresden),” p. 231. This
situation was not the only time Marx “poked fun” at religion or
religious persons. In his correspondence, Marx described having a
wonderful time making a Jewish woman cry by criticizing
Feuerbach (Marx, “Letter to Frederick Engels (in Manchester),”
p. 239). In another letter, Marx enlightened the reader with a story
of a Russian man who died while visiting a nunnery. Marx then
jokingly stated, “The nuns rode him to death” (Marx, “Postscript to
Letter to Frederick Engels (in Manchester),” p. 252).
54 Marx, “Letter to Arnold Ruge (in Dresden),” pp. 234–235.
55 Marx, “Towards a Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right,”
p. 71.
him.45 The efforts of the Concerned Relatives
played into Jones’ paranoia of infringement
from the outside.46 Thus, after murdering the
congressman and some of his entourage, Jones
proclaimed that it was time for his people to “die
with dignity” it was time for “revolutionary
suicide.” On November 18, 1978, more than
nine hundred Jonestown residents drank or were
forcibly injected with cyanide-laced Flavor-Aid
in “protest” of what Jones believed was going to
happen to them.47
Theoretical Perspectives
Partially because of the reactionary and
rebellious tendencies that I have summarized in
the three communist-type groups, religion is a
topic that has been central to many Marxist
critiques of society. Karl Marx (1818–1883)
called religion “the table of contents of
theoretical battles,”48 thereby acknowledging
that in the past the majority of theoretical
conflicts have taken place within the discourse
of religion. Engels and the revisionists carried
on this critique of religion. They engaged with,
and expanded on, what Marx argued previously.
Thus, they produced a more nuanced and tactful
analysis of religion—one that certainly applies
to various communistic religious communes.
Marx on Religion
Marx’s description of religion was functional.
He understood it to be a “substance” that dulls
the pain of exploitation.49 In his own words,
“Religion is the sigh of an oppressed creature,
the feeling of a heartless world, and the soul of
soulless circumstances. It is the opium of the
people.”50 It directs a person’s consciousness
away from both the material world and the
material struggles that exist within it. This
misdirection occurs through religion’s provision
of rituals and ideologies, such as prayer and a
45 Mathews, “The Cult of Death,” pp. 15–16.
46 Hall, p. 210.
47 Mathews, pp. 12–14 Scheeres, pp. 229–232. Considering that
numerous children and other individuals were forced to take part in
Jones’s “protest,” it is likely more accurate to call the events in
Jonestown a “murder-suicide” ritual than a “mass suicide” ritual
(Kent, “House of Judah, the Northeast Kingdom Community, and
‘the Jonestown Problem,’” p. 31 Scheeres, p. 234).
48 Marx, “A Correspondence of 1843,” p. 44.
49 McKown, p. 52.
50 Marx, “Towards a Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right,”
p. 72.
belief in an afterlife, that enable one to detach
from one’s immediate surroundings. According
to Marxists, invoking such concepts provides a
capitalist society with ideal conditions for the
continued exploitation of a religiously deluded
proletariat.51
For Marx, religion dehumanized the masses.
That is, religion stood to reduce humanity to
something less than it was. Marx compared the
“brutalization” of man by the state to religion.52
In jest, Marx stated, “But this [brutalization] is
no contradiction of religiosity, for the animal
religion is the most consistent manifestation of
religion, and perhaps it will soon be necessary to
speak of religious zoology instead of religious
anthropology.”53 Marx felt that we needed to
reawaken “the self-worth of men—freedom,”
something that the dominant classes
progressively had drained from humanity since
the Greeks and had completely emptied with the
arrival of Christianity.54
Also key to Marx was the source, or etiology, of
religion. Marx was adamant about religion’s
artificiality and explained, “...man makes
religion, religion does not make man. Religion
is indeed the self-consciousness and self-
awareness of man who either has not yet
attained to himself or has already lost himself
again.”55 Marx believed that religion, which the
51 In this situation, religion provides what Marxist’s have called
“false consciousness.” Although Marx never directly used this
term, Engels revealed the following about the concept:
Ideology is a process accomplished by the so-called thinker
consciously, indeed, but with a false consciousness. The real
motives impelling him remain unknown to him, otherwise it
would not be an ideological process at all. Hence he imagines
false or apparent motives (Engels, “Engels to Franz Mehring”).
In other words, false consciousness involves conditions that
prevent the working class from understanding its own economic
interests and from being unable to comprehend the history that has
led its members to a current situation of oppression (Morrision,
Marx Weber Durkheim: Formations of Modern Social Thought,
p. 314).
52 Marx, “Letter to Arnold Ruge (in Dresden),” p. 231.
53 Marx, “Letter to Arnold Ruge (in Dresden),” p. 231. This
situation was not the only time Marx “poked fun” at religion or
religious persons. In his correspondence, Marx described having a
wonderful time making a Jewish woman cry by criticizing
Feuerbach (Marx, “Letter to Frederick Engels (in Manchester),”
p. 239). In another letter, Marx enlightened the reader with a story
of a Russian man who died while visiting a nunnery. Marx then
jokingly stated, “The nuns rode him to death” (Marx, “Postscript to
Letter to Frederick Engels (in Manchester),” p. 252).
54 Marx, “Letter to Arnold Ruge (in Dresden),” pp. 234–235.
55 Marx, “Towards a Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right,”
p. 71.
