More from the blame-everyone-but-those-responsible front. Interviewing the Rev. Jerry Falwell on the "700 Club" television show, the Rev. Pat Robertson said: "We have insulted God at the highest levels of our government. And then we say 'Why does this happen?' " Falwell responded 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 secularize America—I point the finger in their face and say, 'You have helped this happen.' " The Rev. Robertson responded, "I totally concur."

Robertson later apologized for the exchange, calling Falwell's remarks "intemperate and inappropriate." However, Robertson later told an audience of 1,000 in Virginia Beach that "[t]he Lord is getting ready to shake this nation. We have not yet seen his judgement on America. ... This thing that happened in New York was child's play compared with what's going to happen."

†