MOD file DEFE 24/2032/1

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' .'~ 1269 Ur.fdentified • [ 18 JANUARY 1979] Hying Objects 1270
the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Leek said. among the varicnis parts of this chequered
I have a little Irish blood in mv veins and chessboard? I felt that I wanted to share
that is why ·I understm:d everything he anxieties on a rather narrow level with your
says. I am sure that the req_:.t;;st by the Lordships. First, I believe that UFOs
noble Earl, Lord Clancarty: and the ~nystery su~;ounding them today
"To call attentioll t:J the ia~reasing number of arc he!pmg to buud up a climate of
sighting.;; and landing" oa a world-wide scale of credulity and, in certain cases, even of
unidNt irlcd flying c.•bjccts" superstition, with. the danger of a sort of
is a proper one. I am most gJ~d that we ersa~z spirituali_ty almost reacting r.gainst
have brought t:1is whclc issue ~out into th~ the tmpersonland sid:tiiHIS a short time a!!o seems
to ha\'e produced r;-,a'.W sigl-itings in
Norfolk; and our Eastern Dailv Press--
which is a magnificent daily paper,accurate
fair and ahvays helpful to the Church-.:..
has told us all about t!1is reccntlv. When
I was talking on television at lunchtime
today in Norwich my immediate reaction
was to ring up tho:: commanding officer of
one of our stations--:md for the sake of
national security I shall not name the
actual establishment lest other cars in other
spaces should be listening to me-to ask
whether (and I am quite serious about
this), when sighings were suggested in
Norfolk last week, one of our particularly
important RAF stations had anything: to
say about them.
this area, to link with a certain religious
subculture which seems to do three
things. It oifers a substitute for true
· catholic religion. I use " catholic " with
a small ' c ' ; I mean the Christian faith in
its widest, bui received, sense. Secondly,
I think it draws serimis, sincere and oft:;n
very channing people-&nd young people
too-into a sub-Christ!an, and I am
afraid sometimes a non-Christian cult,
often controlled by a dominant leader,
and reproduces something of the gnostic
-I suppose one wants to help people by
saying " g-nostic "-heresies of the tight-
knit, esoteric groups of the first, second
and third centuries. In fact, I believe
that Archbishop William Temple was
right when he said the Church of Christ
was the only society founded for its non-
members to take what it knew of God
and of Christ into the world that others
I think that we should be quite cool;
firm and scientific nr.d trv to extend our
knowledge in this area. · But, with the
wealth of scientific, ueronautical and
erudite knowledge in your Lordships'
House, what is a bishop doing moving
might know too.
I see a certain ·danger of the linking
of religion with the UFO situation at that
level. Some Christian researchers sul!gest
that those who become deeply involved
in the religious aspects of the UFO
situation come under a psychic domination
>'~ .