What are your thoughts about Jim Jones' actual beliefs?

Jones claimed to be the Christ, the Messiah. He turned himself into a megalomaniac who convinced people that he was a reincarnation of Jesus (as well as of Lenin), and offered them salvation and Utopia. That's why there IS a link between his cult appearing to be quasi-Christian whilst being politically un-Christian and promoting violence and guns. Have modern religious Americans learned anything from that tragic episode? Apparently not.

When investigative journalism began to expose him as a fraud, he swiftly moved to Guyana in 1977, some 1,000+ followers going with him. But the promised Utopia turned out to be a concentration camp designed for the greater glory, enrichment and sexual gratification of its dictator. The followers were regaled daily with loudspeaker denouncements of capitalism as they laboured in the nearly 4,000 acre site. Those who caused trouble were put into "the box" - a 15 foot deep mud pit where they could be left for days on end. A defector, Deborah Layton, wrote about the horrors in her book "Seductive Poison". She described a 66 year old disciple named Charlie being ritually humiliated for daring to fall asleep during one of Jones's interminable lectures. Jones ordered the man's own son to drape a huge boa constrictor around his father's neck and leave it hanging there. Jones used mind games and got family and friends to report on others.

To heighten the climate of fear, Jones regularly dragged exhausted minions from their beds in the early hours to act out his "White Nights". Alarms would blare, summoning them to battle stations bearing knives, sticks and rifles, on the pretext that Jonestown was under attack from some outside invaders. They had a CIA persecution complex. Rampant paranoia was Jones's trademark. When discussing matters with his inner circle, code-words were used; guns were Bibles; the US was Rex, and Cuba was Netty.

To accomplish the mass suicides, Jones had a series of practice runs designed to test their loyalty and courage. Deborah Layton fled in May 1978 and warned the US authorities, but no action was taken. Only one congressman took action; Leo Ryan. He and journalists arrived at the commune on November 17 and they were welcomed. Ryan was allowed to tell everyone that they were free to leave with him, if they wanted to. The next evening, when 16 disciples opted for this, Jones's rampant ego took over and the Apocalypse began.

Ryan, three journalists and one disciple were killed in bullet fire as they tried to board a plane. Then, back at Jonestown, the suicide order went out. Many took the fruit juice laced with cyanide willingly. Hundreds more refused his order, so the guards forced them to at gunpoint. Some old people were apparently injected as they sat helplessly in their wheelchairs. 276 children had parental hands pressed over their mouths, forcing them to swallow. Jones shot himself. Just as Satan entered into Judas, leading to Judas betraying Christ then hanging himself, so Satan entered into Jones, who betrayed 1,000 people then shot himself.             

I love it when people throw around terms like 'atheist', 'marxist', etc. - when they couldn't accurately define those terms if they had a gun to their head...

EDIT: I've studied Jim Jones and the People's Temple in great depth. You can't blame atheists when a religious leader does bad things. That's dishonest. He was no different than the Christian leader, David Koresh, the jehovah's witnesses cult leaders, the Mormon cult leaders, etc.... They all claim Christianity, whether you want to believe it or not. All religious leaders are corrupt , even those who really believe they're Christian.

Sorry, you can't blame atheism for rogue preacher men.

The largest belief system in his cult was Christianity.

As with all religious leaders, he attached his own spin to control his followers.

You cherry picked information to prove your point, but failed miserably.

Let's at least try to be honest here.

It's always the bad atheists' fault, right?

Religion = Organized Crime.

Let's deal with facts, shall we?

Conservapedia?  They simply make things up to suit their agenda.  There's no evidence that he was an atheist, though he did have communist sympathies.

Jim Jones ended up thinking he was a god. That he was the one who controlled everything about the lives of the people who followed him. That's a religion. Jones was savior and devil to those in his thrall. That's a religion. No matter how hard you and others try, Jim Jones made himself out to be a god, demanded absolute obedience and tested that obedience very tragically with the Jonestown Massacre of 1978. 

Well, the way I see it he's dead and what he believed is a moot point.