The Rev Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson set off a minor explosion of their own when they asserted on US television that an angry God had allowed the terrorists to succeed in their deadly mission because the United States had become a nation of abortion, homosexuality, secular schools and courts, and the American civil liberties union.
Liberal groups and commentators denounced their remarks yesterday, as did President Bush, who has long enjoyed the political support of the two evangelists.
"The president believes that terrorists are responsible for these acts," said a White House spokesman, Ken Lisaius. "He does not share those views, and believes that those remarks are inappropriate."
Yet Mr Falwell's and Mr. Robertson's remarks were based in theology familiar to and accepted by many conservative evangelical Christians, who believe the Bible teaches that God withdraws protection from nations that violate his will.
Several conservative theologians and evangelists said in interviews yesterday that they agreed with the basic notion but rejected the idea that mere humans can ever know which particular sins lead to which particular tragedies.
The Rev R Albert Mohler Jr, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and a friend of Mr Falwell, said, "There is no doubt that America has accommodated itself to so many sins that we should always fear God's judgment and expect that in due time that judgment will come. But we ought to be very careful about pointing to any circumstance or any specific tragedy and say that this thing has happened because this is God's direct punishment."
Mr Falwell, chancellor of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, and senior pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church there, was in Washington yesterday in a service at the National Cathedral at Mr Bush's invitation.
He released a statement on the controversy, saying: "Despite the impression some may have from news reports today, I hold no one other than the terrorists and the people and nations who have enabled and harboured them responsible for Tuesday's attacks on this nation.
"I sincerely regret that comments I made during a long theological discussion on a Christian television programme yesterday were taken out of their context and reported and that my thoughts - reduced to soundbites - have detracted from the spirit of this day of mourning."
What Mr Falwell said on Thursday on The 700 Club, while chatting with the programme's host, Mr Robertson, was this: "What we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be minuscule if, in fact, God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve."
Mr Robertson responded: "Jerry, that's my feeling. I think we've just seen the antechamber to terror. We haven't even begun to see what they can do to the major population."
A few moments later Mr Falwell said: "The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularise America, I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.' "
To which Mr Robertson said: "I totally concur, and the problem is we have adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government."
James Robison, a well-known evangelist in Euless, Texas, and host of the Christian television programme Life Today, emphasised a different catalogue of what he saw as sins: arrogance in relationships with third world countries, plundering other countries for resources while supporting their despots, and indifference to others' poverty and pain.
"Any time you get away from God, you do become vulnerable," Mr Robison said. "Bad judgment always leaves the door open to perpetrators of pain."
Among evangelicals, the terrorist attacks have unleashed renewed calls for repentance, prayer and spiritual revival.
"Many people are calling this a wake-up call, and yet it doesn't help us respond to God to somehow feel that we've been chastised by this," said Steve Hawthorne, director of WayMakers, a prayer ministry in Austin, Texas.
"It might be wise for us to examine our lives and our hearts and our practices."
© New York Times