equal justice and equal opportunity,nand the sharing of one’s earthly possessionsnfor the common benefit of alln— these are the elements of the radicalnfaith which Dr. Jones and his congregationnhave translated into action.nTheir success has inspired and hasnchallenged church and communitynleaders throughout California andnthe United States; they have shownnconclusively that Christian socialismnis a viable alternative to the rapidlyndeteriorating fabric of our highlyncompetitive, acquisitive society.’nIt was perhaps predictable that imbecilesnin the United States would waxnenthusiastic over the People’s Templen(“Later, Angela Davis and others wouldnbroadcast lively messages of socialistnsolidarity to the beleaguered Jonestownngarrison.”) Even more ominous, how­npropensities for the newly discoverednorgan of voluptuousness are mind-boggling.nA whole new aspect of frontalnnudity is upon the world. Cyrano de Bergerac’sntorments suddenly are envied bynevery male. The vehemence of the hesitationsnand perplexities that may besiegenall those who consider parenthoodnwill tnake legislators and the SupremenCourt tremble. And what does it meannfor the cinetnatic arts? Deep Nose?nWhat’s next’ The prophylactic potentialnof deodorants?nTheological TormentsnUnder the title “Homosexuals JoinnWith Quaker Assembly,” the ChristiannBeacon of August 13, 1981, reprints anReligious News Service dispatch whichnreports on the latest doings of the AmericannFriends Assembly in Berea, Kentucky:nThe town mayor, local ministers andnothers were particularly outraged bynLIBERAL CULTUREnever, is the fact that Jones had beennappointed Chairman of the San FrancisconHousing Authority and that JerrynBrown, Walter Mondale and many othernpublic figures embraced the chance tonbear witness to his progressive bonanfides. And so the story of Jonestownntakes Naipaul from Guyana to California,nwhere he finds a metastasizingnGuyana of the mind:nSo, it is to the deadly drama of ideasnwe must turn— to the ideas and to thenmilieu in which they took shape, ripenednand. eventually, became infectednwith disease.nIn his California journey Naipaul rejectsnboth of the usual explanations ofnJonestown. The first, of course, is thatnJones was nothing but a hustler exploit­na dramatic reading listed on thenFriends’program schedule. The play,nentitled ‘Hold Me Until Morning,’ndealt with various aspects of malensexuality and was billed as ‘a conversationnbetween a man and penis.’nFormal DatesnA certain Mr. Ronald Weber, professornof American Studies at Notre Dame,ntells the Wall Street Journal what henthinks of coeducation, that is, admittingnwomen to once all-male bastions of highernlearning.nWhen the school was all-male, younhad to have a formal date, so the relationsnbetween men and womennwere on a formal, date basis. Nownrelations are much more informalnnning, for his personal gain, the confusionsnof the time. But this explanationnis at best inadequate and at worst misleading.nQuite apart from the fact thatnJones’s sincerity was attested by manynof those who crossed his path, merenhustlers do not kill themselves to demonstratentheir good faith.nThe second explanation is that Jonesnwas simply demented, an unrepresentativenunderground man whose personalncharisma persuaded a handful of followersnto join him in his madness. Ifnthis view were correct the Guyana suicidesnwould be of abiding interest onlynto psychiatrists.nBut as Naipaul convincingly demonstrates,nthe insanity defense is inadequatenas well. Far from being unique,nJones reflected all too well the broadernand spontaneous.nMr. Weber is obviously a subtle andnprofound thinker, so we were somehownunsure as to what he meant by the adjectiven”spontaneous.” We suspect, however,nthat his notion of spontaneousnrelations would not give us Petrarch’snsonnets, Stendhal’s musings on womanhoodnor even Jack London’s he-man sentimentality.nThat is, our civilization.nWhat’s the Difference?nThe latest good news from the Westncoast: Governor Jerry Brown has appointednan avowed lesbian to the SannFrancisco MunicipalnCourt. Her/His Honor,nMs. Mary Morgan, hadnthis to say:nI think it’s importantnto have more lesbiansnand gays visible in ournsociety so people cannsee there’s not annenormous differencenbetween us and wendon’t have anything tonfear from each other.nReally? DnHI^HH^^^HHSSn]o«mber/Dcccmbcr 1981n