Thirty-six years ago, on November 18, 1978, 913 members of the People's Temple Cult committed mass suicide in the jungles of Guyana, under the leadership of Reverend Jim Jones . Most of the victims appear to have committed suicide by ingesting grape Kool-Aid laced with cyanide, while a few were shot. This grisly event was sparked by the ambush of U.S. Representative Leo J. Ryan and other Americans who were attempting to investigate the mistreatment of Reverend Jones' supporters; the sect apparently felt threatened by the potential repercussions of the ambush (Layton 3). In 1993, about 80 members of David Koresh's Branch Davidians died after sect members burned down their own compound following a standoff with federal authorities. And in recent years, 74 members of a group calling itself the Order of the Solar Temple have died in Canada, Switzerland and France. In the most recent Solar Temple incident, Didier Queze, 39, baker, his wife Chantale Goupillot, 41, his mother and two other worshipers blew themselves into oblivion in Saint-Casimir, Quebec; They had attempted to take their three teenagers with them, but at the last minute the three drugged teenagers tore themselves out of the explosives-rigged house and hid in a storage shed. Members of the Solar Temple cult believe that the explosions that cause their earthly bodies to fragment will propel them toward Sirius, a star in the constellation Canus Major (Lacayo 44). And, of course, most recently, thirty-nine people in matching clothing, members of the Heaven's Gate cult in Rancho Santa Fe, California, were found peacefully lying in bed in their rented hillside mansion with their hands on the sides, dead. Cult members committed suicide this weekend... in the middle of the paper... people who murdered for the devil's sake. The fact that these religions resort to sacrifices is incompatible with the doctrine of freedom of this country. . Thus, once again, the individual's right to live in peace would supersede these archaic rituals. This is based on the assumption that killing is wrong. Who knows? Maybe murder really is okay, as some cults claim. However, if we accept that everything is acceptable, then no law or Constitution will be valid anyway. It is therefore not unconstitutional to prohibit such activity on the basis of another law. Since Santeria and Voodoo condone murder, they should be banned. We cannot practice religion without causing harm; thus, it is not the belief that is prohibited, it is the actions associated with the belief. We shouldn't be able to practice Santeria in the United States. And dangerous cults should be banned in the United States.