Acceptance Quote by Julia Scheeres
“As kids, my brother David and I longed for acceptance. We were desperate to belong. We would have been thrilled to see the pews of Jones's church in San Francisco, with blacks and whites sitting side by side. And Jim Jones's sermons on social justice and equality would have had much greater appeal to us than the soporific morality tales we were accustomed to hearing. Jones promised real racial equality. He promised to create a truly equal community in the jungle in Guyana.”
About This Quote
Source Book: The Lost Children of Paradise by Julia Scheeres, 2015
Desperate for acceptance, people are drawn to promises of radical equality, even when those promises are dangerous.
In simple terms: People seek belonging, sometimes in risky movements.
Key Takeaway
Critically evaluate promises of utopia.
Themes
belonging
equality
radicalism
Mood
analytical
cautionary
Type
historical
sociological
When to use this quote
- community building
- critical thinking
- historical analysis
Key Concepts
social justice
cult dynamics
Questions to Reflect On
- Why do we gravitate toward idealistic groups?
- How can we discern genuine equality from manipulation?
A Different Perspective
Utopian promises can mask harmful agendas.
![“No one listening [to Jones' sermons], even those who were the most devoted to him, could take it all in. But at some point each follower heard something that reaffirmed his or her personal reason for belonging to Peoples Temple, and for believing in Jim Jones. As Jonestown historian Fielding…” quote by Jeff Guinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/a6b/jeff-guinn-21483_jim-jones_no-one-listening-to-jones-sermons-even-t_2184419.jpg)
