Anna and Mark discuss Father Divine and his Peace Mission Movement that took place in the United States during the 1920s & 30s.  His humanitarian approach to Christianity provided him with a lot of support during the Great Depression as many Americans were struggling for food and shelter.  However, it was his failure to address the problems with race in America, thinking that we should all be one big happy family,  that caused some people to turn away.  Divine was a very action based leader, but his personal actions spoke louder than his preaching.  His fancy cars, real estate purchases, and expensive clothing quickly separated him from his followers.  This movement serves as the jumping off point for Jim Jones and his People's Temple.  Jones picks up where Divine left off, with Socialism and action being the road to salvation.  A young hellion as a child, Jim found that he had the gift for preaching.  He loved the attention and applause, something that he never received as a child.  This would fuel his movement that would eventually lead to him convincing thousands of people to head to South America.  That's where Part 2 will pick up next week!  Remember, don't drink the kool-aid.  

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sources for this episode:

• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Peace-Mission
  
• https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jun-14-me-religdivine14-story.html
  
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Divine#:~:text=On%20September%2010%2C%201965%2C%20Father,causes%20at%20his%20Woodmont%20estate
  
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Peoples-Temple
  
• https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35356
  
• https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35356
  

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