Brian Britt, Professor of Religious Studies at Virginia Tech, comments on the popular phrase thirty years after Jonestown:
Whether use of the phrase “drinking the Kool-Aid” opens a window on the American psyche, it certainly reflects a failure to think carefully about the categories of religion and secularity, memory and forgetting. Defenders and critics of religion alike tend to regard religion as a benevolent but limited feature of private life. The defensiveness of people of faith thus mirrors the dismissiveness of skeptics. The popularity of “drinking the Kool-Aid” asks for clearer thinking about the power of religion and the words spoken and written in its name. Such clarity is the first step toward acknowledging the humanity and familiarity of Jones and his followers.
Find his full piece in Sightings.