Instructions to leave militant religious groups? (8,6)
I believe the answer is:
marching orders
'militant religious groups?' is the definition.
The definition suggests a plural noun which matches the answer.
'instructions to leave' is the wordplay.
'instructions' becomes 'orders' (an order is an instruction or command).
'to' says to put letters next to each other (I've seen this in other clues).
'leave' becomes 'marching' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'orders' put after 'marching' is 'MARCHING ORDERS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for marching orders that I've seen before include "They send you packing" , "Military command" , "Notice" , "what's given to departing soldiers?" , "Eg "Best foot forward"" .)