[Peoples Temple letterhead]
February 2, 1978
The Hon. Forbes Burnham
Prime Minister
Public Buildings, Brickdam
Georgetown
Dear Prime Minister Burnham:
Because you have taken an interest in Peoples Temple over the years, we try to keep you up to date on some of the background of our persecution in the United States so that you can get the full picture. Two articles that I am including will give you some idea of what we are doing in the United States and what we have endured.
The first one is an article about Rupert Murdoch, the press magnate, who was one of the people who lead [led] the offensive to discredit Peoples Temple. You can see by this article in a progressive magazine that Murdoch’s tendency is not just to discredit Peoples Temple but to use the same technique against another individual, Wilfred Burchett, who has also, like Jim Jones, champeoned the rights of people and who has “covered peoples’ liberation struggles all over the world for forty years.” The type of lies he used in this case was to say that Burchett participated in the torture of prisoners of war in Vietnam and Korea and also Murdoch’s paper demanded that Burchett’s tour of US campuses and cities be stopped.
The other article “Peoples Temple Investigates the Investigators” indicates that Peoples Temple is taking the offensive to investigate those who attempt to destroy any residue of freedom in the United States, and also explains that Peoples Temple is now bringing these facts to the people in the United States through peaceful protest.
Thank you for your attention to these articles and we hope they are informative.
Cooperatively yours,
Sharon Amos
Administrative Assistant to Bishop Jones
[Handwriting: “copies to all ministers”]