Date: 07 May 93  23:46:52
From: Fredric Rice
  To: All
Subj: Walk Away
____________________________________________________________________________

WALK AWAY  -

 During the last year or two, several people have expressed an interest
in the publication called "Walk Away."  There was some speculation that
Walk Away was also a deprogramming  group which assisted  in physically
helping  victims  of  cult  'mind  control'   escape  from  destructive
religions.  Not so.

 To finally put rumors to rest  and to provide  a reference for further
inquiries into the  Walk Away publication (in A_Theist and HolySmoke) I
wrote a  letter  to  Simon,  Porteous,  and  Assoc.,  Inc.,  asking for
information on  the group  and publication offering the hopes that they
might call so that  an informal telephone  interview might  be granted.
Though I was  not  granted an  interview  with the  Institute for First
Amendment  Studies, they  very  graciously  forwarded  a great  deal of
information about the publications "Walk Away" and "Freedom Writer."

 "Walk Away" is  merely a  very  fine  publication which  offers either
monologues  or  interviews  of  people  who  have  "walked  away"  from
destructive religions.  Some people  express a slow  realization of the
impossibilities  of  deity belief  whereas others refine  the  point at
which  they  had  realized  they  simply  could  not believe.  Everyone
expressed the nature of their  virtual  enslavement  to their churches,
remarking upon the  demands that  questioning  their  beliefs  is evil.
Anyone  they  talked to  who offered  opinions and  oppositional facts,
they are usually  told, are working  for "the devil."  For  the  people
reviewed in Walk Away, the story  is generally the same yet always with
damned interesting twists.

 In the end, people who walk away are amazed that there are others like
them who  feel no  guilt for  doing so.  The expression of freedom felt
yet not  previously  realized  is offered  by  the more  emotive people
whereas most express relief that their  ordeals were over.  For so many
people, the religion of their parents becomes the single-most important
aspect of their lives around which all  else revolves.  Being told what
to believe  in all  aspects of life, these people are isolated from the
constraints of living in an uncomfortable  world and fall easily into a
realm where others  instruct them  in _all_  their activities, assuring
them that, no matter  what they do,  if they believe  in their deities,
eventually  they'll  live without  the worry and the  strife  that runs
through the  streets of  the real world  --  God will protect them from
real life.

 The publication also covers  violations of first amendment laws by the
"religious right," offering detailed quotes  from preachers  as well as
information on tax laws violations by  right-wing churches which engage
in politics.  Walk Away insiders  have  somewhat  covert access to such
groups  as  "Operation Rescue"  and  Pat Robertson's  crowd.  Walk Away
readers are offered a view of the  agendas of  right-wing  groups which
are often quite  different than  those stated in public.  It traces the
ties (financial or philosophical) between  groups and political figures
and will at  times interview the 'opposition' -- those who would impose
a theocracy in America.

 Some of the quotes of various preachers are  outrageous -- we've heard
them from the  fundi crowd  within this  forum  on a  daily  basis,  of
course, yet to hear these  fundi's  masters spout  them underscores and
gives a measure  of solidity to the hatred and intolerance we see daily
-- either here in HolySmoke or  in the  real world whenever an abortion
clinic is attacked.

 The success  of  Walk Away's  efforts  to  drag  right-wing  religious
extremists out into the  open for all  to see is  itself underscored in
damned-funny  letters to the editor by fundies.  They're  much the same
as we  get in this forum, of course, with claims that the editorship is
"working  for  'Satan.'"  No  doubt  Walk Away  receives  its  quota of
mythology  quotations as well.    Also  without  a  doubt,  they
receive a great many letters totally unfit for publication.

 Lastly, the publication  also lists and  describes books pertaining to
First Amendment rights violations  as well as about  right-wing  groups
which perform  them.  Such titles are  "Spiritual Warfare: The Politics
of the  Christian Right,"  and  "Jesus Doesn't Live Here Anymore:  From
Fundamentalist to  Freedom Writer."  This  last  is  written  by  Skipp
Porteous and is published by a well-known  friend of  rationality which
many HolySmoke and  A_Theist  participants will  recognize:  Prometheus
Books.  Skipp  Porteous  was once a  fundamentalists  preacher  who, it
seems, walked away much as  Austin Miles  did,  taking up the  cause of
informing  the populace  of  the  insanity  and  constitutional  rights
violations only the godless, it seems, is capable of seeing.

                                        - Fredric Rice  (818) 335-9601
                                          The Skeptic Tank (1:102/890)
                                          07/May/93

Walk Away and Freedom Writer
Institute for First Amendment Studies, Inc.
357 North Plain Road
Post Office Box 589
Great Barrington, MA. 01230
-=-
Walk Away 4/year US$10.00
Freedom Writer US$25.00

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 Origin: Wanted dead or alive: Randall Terry, terrorists (1:102/890)