This week marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Jonestown massacre, in which the pastor Jim Jones ordered more than 900 of his followers to literally drink the Kool-Aid — this one, laced with cyanide. As community leaders and politicians began to reflect on how they let this happen, a thesis emerged:

“From my perspective,” says California congresswoman Jackie Speier, “the Peoples Temple got out of hand because the political leadership in San Francisco was indebted to Jim Jones.”

It was that theme that dominated Tuesday’s memorial service at the mass grave in Oakland. In an emotional and highly charged address, the Rev. Amos Brown, bishop at San Francisco’s Third Baptist Church and president of the San Francisco NAACP, warned the mourners to beware of religious leaders who claim to have all the answers and insinuate themselves into politics, as Jones did so effectively in San Francisco.

“Good religion elevates folk, it teaches people to think for themselves. Good religion isn’t authoritarian. Good religion isn’t bigoted,” he said. “Open up your eyes, America. America isn’t a theocracy, it’s a democracy. …And that is the lesson we must learn from Jonestown.”