Jesus Doesn't Live Here Anymore: From Fundamentalist to Freedom Writer

The portentous message of this former fundamentalist's apologia is that the ``new religious right'' is on the offensive, threatening our First Amendment rights. The author, publisher of the Freedom Writer , a newsletter focusing on issues relating to the separation of church and state, traces a personal evolution that began with youthful ``born again'' fervor in upstate New York and an early marriage that did not survive the vagaries of ministries in California. Back in New York, growing disenchantment with fundamentalist practices led Porteus to reexamine the role religion played in his life. He is now a declared secular humanist, as well as an activist monitoring the religious right in America, whose giants, among them Pat Robertson and Billy Graham, are scathingly portrayed here. Obviously a cathartic endeavor, Porteus's account of a search for simplistic answers indicates he is still searching, albeit in a different direction. (Sept.)