A lot of folks on this forum are ok with this because of the targeted group, but what if it were Evangelical, anti-Abortion Christians who were on the spot? Whom would you respect more; people who got on their knees and said, "yeah, I was there but it was that guy who did all the talking" to save their jobs at the post office or the people who might say, "none of the government's effin business what church I went to thirty years ago"?
If the guy had realized the bigger picture...that the panel was fighting a fight against Communism, maybe he should have cooperated. Turns out that Communists did get into the Government later. So the committee's fears were not that far off.
Ronald Reagan cooperated. De Silva should have too. Keeping quiet made him look like someone the studios didn't want to work with.