PART III
WALKAWAYS

According to authors Lalich and Tobias, the majority of cult members, when they leave, walk away on their own. They cite a few pertinent statistics-

One survey of more than 500 former members revealed that seventy-five percent left their groups without any kind of intervention. Another survey of 308 former members indicated that sixty percent left on their own without any formal outside assistance.

            There are a variety of reasons they leave. Sometimes it is a relationship or the ambiance of the group. Many times, they may leave because the group bores them and does not correspond with their interest. These kinds of walkaways may never even know they were associated with a cult.  Many cult recruiters can drive people to their early meetings but lack the skill or the right program to address the right person’s needs.  According to the authors, sometimes these groups have undergone programming but have not recognized that intrusive manipulation with their minds.  For many people, like myself, cult mind control is entirely unknown, until much later in their involvement, if ever. .

            As a perfect example of this, there is the testimony of Paul Haggis, who the Church of Scientology called the “Hollywood Hypocrite.” His ‘term of office’ of 34 years even beats mine of 26.  Paul’s exit was quite different from mine, where I basically slipped out without any fanfare. This was because his subsequent revelations about the group led him to publicly voice his concerns. But like me, when asked why it took so long to understand what scientology was, he said it was ‘a long, slow’ walk. In Scientology’s case, he said that much of the bonding that took place was because the group was, indeed, subject to much public and government interest, often quite negative.

            In fact, Paul Wright, who wrote Going Clear, a book about Scientology, when asked why Scientology was classified as a religion and not a cult by the IRS, which had given Scientology considerable flack, noted that that there were 2400 lawsuits filed against the agency by Scientology.
            Haggis is a case, which the media followed closely. Marc Headley wrote a memoir called Blown for Good: Beyond the Iron Curtain of Scientology, describing his harrowing escape from the large compound, Gold Base near the town of Hemet, California.  He was a member for 15 years and a member of Sea Org, an organization known for its brutality in punishing members who wouldn’t conform to the rules. Another long-term veteran of Scientology is Jefferson Hawkins, who wrote a book called Leaving Scientology. He spent 30 years in Scientology on a very high level of Management so he knows some of the deepest levels of scientology programming. Perhaps more well known was the fate of Katie Holmes and Nicole Kidman also had highly publicized departures from Scientology, principally because of their departure from Tom Cruise’s life. Scientology is probably the most highly publicized group of its type with so many very well-publicized escapees.

            Walking away from some cults is easy, but in others you may fear for your health or your life.