§ 3. Mr. Dribergasked the Secretary of State for Air if he will state the principles on which the political views of clergymen and ministers serving as whole-time or part-time chaplains in the Royal Air Force render them liable to removal from their duties.
§ Mr. J. AmeryLike any other officer, a member of the Chaplains' Branch is required by regulation to refrain from taking an active part in the affairs of any political organisation. There are no such hard-and-fast rules or principles for part-time chaplains. There have, however, been two instances in which local ministers resigned their Royal Air Force chaplaincies because they wished to express publicly views which were incompatible with these appointments.
§ Mr. DribergIf one of those two instances is the case of the Free Church minister who resigned under pressure because he was a nuclear disarmer, is it not then being admitted that there is, in fact, political discrimination—and, 141 indeed, a political and military Gleichschaltung—of ministers of religion in the Royal Air Force?
§ Mr. AmeryNo, Sir. I do not think so. Every man's private opinion is his own affair, but if he expresses a view in public which is not consistent with his position as a chaplain in a Fighting Service, we cannot ignore it. The part-time chaplain in question, being a man of honour, voluntarily resigned his position.
§ Mr. DribergIs it not going to be rather difficult to censor all their sermons —at Christmas-time, for instance?
§ Mr. AmeryI do not think we are faced with any problem of that kind. When the matter arose in connection with the part-time chaplain to whom the hon. Member has referred, he saw there was an incompatibility and resigned.