Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2005, Page 120
Jonestown/People’s Temple
New Play Written on Tragedy
Leigh Fondakowski has just completed a stage play, “The People’s Temple,” a blend of
journalism and theater about the Jonestown disaster. The soon-to-be-debuted play is
based mainly on 3,000 pages of typewritten transcripts from people directly involved in the
epochal event. It was commissioned by Z Space Studio head David Dower, whose wife is
acting as curator of the material for the California Historical Society. (Pat Craig, Contra
Costa Times, Internet, 4/17/05)
The play, which explores the deeper identities of Jim Jones’s followers, is a ―drama filled
with dozens of personal accounts stretched over three hours.‖ There is no simple, all-
inclusive answer as to why they got involved and why they remained, but the weight of the
stage biographies suggests that people joined for many reasons: the church‘s ―lefty
politics‖ because it was racially mixed ―for the comfort and security of an enclosed world.‖
One woman said she joined only so she could be with her husband and child. (Marshall
Kilduff, San Francisco Chronicle, Internet, 4/24/05)
Living Love Fellowship (LLF)/Amadon
Girl Removed from Guru
A former South African policeman, identified only as André, has told how he rescued a 16-
year-old Warmbaths girl who ran away two years ago to be with Amadon, the Oregon-
based head of the Living Life Fellowship (LLF). The law officer came forward in the wake
of news reporting on the case of another South African girl, Diane McMillan, whom Amadon
recently recruited over the internet and allegedly married when she arrived in the U.S.
The former policeman said he got no help from South African Interpol or the U.S. Embassy,
but found an American policeman to assist him in confronting Amadon at his Oregon farm
and threatening to arrest him for possession of pornography if he did not produce the girl.
―She was definitely there against her will because, when we told her she had to come with
us, she did not argue. Amadon gave us her passport, which he had kept. ..She had to
have extensive counseling. ..We found out that she had been sexually abused.‖
Cult expert Luke Lamprecht describes LLF teachings as ―idle ramblings‖ that appeal to
teenage angst. ―The girls who are lured would be white, achievers at school, very religious,
and exceptionally bright—people looking for the meaning of life, and love. This guy
(Amadon) provides it.‖ (Keshiefa Ajam, IA, Independent Online, in Johannesburg Star,
Internet, 5/7/05)
Mother Says Her Daughter “Indoctrinated”
The mother of Diane McMillan, a young South African who left home for Oregon to marry
Amadon, guru of the Living Love Fellowship — he wooed her over the Internet starting
when she was 15 — says her daughter may not be drugged or brainwashed. But ―I feel she
has been indoctrinated because she can see no wrong in Amadon. The two of them feel
completely blameless. She listens to everything he says and does not question it.‖ (Kasheifa
Ajam, Saturday Star in IOL, Internet, 6/11/05)
MOVE
Pressing for Release of Convicted Members
MOVE, the Philadelphia communal group involved in a confrontation with police twenty
years ago that devastated part of a neighborhood and led to the deaths of five children,
continues, on the anniversary of the disaster, to press for the release from prison of eight
members convicted of killing a policeman in 1978. ―I am angry and bitter,‖ says Ramona
Jonestown/People’s Temple
New Play Written on Tragedy
Leigh Fondakowski has just completed a stage play, “The People’s Temple,” a blend of
journalism and theater about the Jonestown disaster. The soon-to-be-debuted play is
based mainly on 3,000 pages of typewritten transcripts from people directly involved in the
epochal event. It was commissioned by Z Space Studio head David Dower, whose wife is
acting as curator of the material for the California Historical Society. (Pat Craig, Contra
Costa Times, Internet, 4/17/05)
The play, which explores the deeper identities of Jim Jones’s followers, is a ―drama filled
with dozens of personal accounts stretched over three hours.‖ There is no simple, all-
inclusive answer as to why they got involved and why they remained, but the weight of the
stage biographies suggests that people joined for many reasons: the church‘s ―lefty
politics‖ because it was racially mixed ―for the comfort and security of an enclosed world.‖
One woman said she joined only so she could be with her husband and child. (Marshall
Kilduff, San Francisco Chronicle, Internet, 4/24/05)
Living Love Fellowship (LLF)/Amadon
Girl Removed from Guru
A former South African policeman, identified only as André, has told how he rescued a 16-
year-old Warmbaths girl who ran away two years ago to be with Amadon, the Oregon-
based head of the Living Life Fellowship (LLF). The law officer came forward in the wake
of news reporting on the case of another South African girl, Diane McMillan, whom Amadon
recently recruited over the internet and allegedly married when she arrived in the U.S.
The former policeman said he got no help from South African Interpol or the U.S. Embassy,
but found an American policeman to assist him in confronting Amadon at his Oregon farm
and threatening to arrest him for possession of pornography if he did not produce the girl.
―She was definitely there against her will because, when we told her she had to come with
us, she did not argue. Amadon gave us her passport, which he had kept. ..She had to
have extensive counseling. ..We found out that she had been sexually abused.‖
Cult expert Luke Lamprecht describes LLF teachings as ―idle ramblings‖ that appeal to
teenage angst. ―The girls who are lured would be white, achievers at school, very religious,
and exceptionally bright—people looking for the meaning of life, and love. This guy
(Amadon) provides it.‖ (Keshiefa Ajam, IA, Independent Online, in Johannesburg Star,
Internet, 5/7/05)
Mother Says Her Daughter “Indoctrinated”
The mother of Diane McMillan, a young South African who left home for Oregon to marry
Amadon, guru of the Living Love Fellowship — he wooed her over the Internet starting
when she was 15 — says her daughter may not be drugged or brainwashed. But ―I feel she
has been indoctrinated because she can see no wrong in Amadon. The two of them feel
completely blameless. She listens to everything he says and does not question it.‖ (Kasheifa
Ajam, Saturday Star in IOL, Internet, 6/11/05)
MOVE
Pressing for Release of Convicted Members
MOVE, the Philadelphia communal group involved in a confrontation with police twenty
years ago that devastated part of a neighborhood and led to the deaths of five children,
continues, on the anniversary of the disaster, to press for the release from prison of eight
members convicted of killing a policeman in 1978. ―I am angry and bitter,‖ says Ramona
