The Rev Jerry Falwell apologised on Tuesday for remarks he made last week saying that gay people were partly to blame for the terrorist attacks that toppled the World Trade Center and destroyed part of the Pentagon killing thousands.

In a discussion with host Pat Robertson on the Christian television programme The 700 Club about the terrorist attacks, Falwell said God had allowed terrorists to attack America because of gay people, feminists, abortion rights supporters and civil liberties groups.

"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 secularize America - I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.'"

"Well, I totally concur," responded Robertson.

Mainline Christians and their leaders who were horrified by his comments pointed out publicly to Falwell that there was no way to know which sins led to which divine punishments. The White House also called the minister's statements inappropriate.

Falwell agreed and attempted a clarification.

In response, Lorri Jean, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force released a statement that reads in part: "The terrible tragedy that has befallen our nation, and indeed the entire global community, is the sad byproduct of fanaticism. It has its roots in the same fanaticism that enables people like Jerry Falwell to preach hate against those who do not think, live, or love in the exact same way he does."

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She added that the week's tragedies "did not occur because someone made God mad, as Mr Falwell asserts. They occurred because of hate, pure and simple. It is time to move beyond a place of hate and to a place of healing. We hope that Mr Falwell will apologize to the US and world communities."

A spokeswoman for the American Civil Liberties Union said the organization "will not dignify the Falwell-Robertson remarks with a comment."

Falwell released a statement on his website on Tuesday apologising, ?In the midst of the shock and mourning of a dark week for America, I made a statement that I should not have made and which I sincerely regret. I apologize that, during a week when everyone appropriately dropped all labels and no one was seen as liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, religious or secular, I singled out for blame certain groups of Americans.

?I blame no one but the hijackers and terrorists for the barbaric happenings of September 11."

Angel Watts, a spokeswoman for Robertson's Christian Broadcast Network, said Robertson "of course" did not blame gays or aetheists for the attacks.

Editor?s note: Find the name ?Jerry Falwell? familiar but can?t quite place him? Well, he is the man who outed "Tinky Winky", the ?gay? Teletubby in 1999. In the February issue of National Liberty Journal, which he edits and publishes, he alerted parents about the show's gay agenda, citing circumstantial evidence for "Tinky Winky's" sexual preference. Falwell's proof: ?Tinky Winky? carries a handbag; is purple, the colour of Gay Pride and has a triangle-shaped antenna, the symbol of Gay Pride.