In an exchange of e-mails with VirtueOnline, Dr. Zahl refused, saying that his comment appears to have "caught them in the act".

"What they were attempting to do is what the IRA has done many times in Northern Ireland. Just when some sort of agreement was about to be reached between Protestant political parties and Catholic political parties there, and with the British Government and that of the Republic of Ireland, the IRA would toss a bomb in order to de-stabilize the peace process. The same is true of Hamas, which always seems to throw a bomb just exactly when Israel is about to make a real concession to the Palestinians and there is some real shred of hope. It is a classic tool to destroy the possibility of compromise in favor of an extreme agenda. Similarly, just when the House of Bishops seems to be almost on the verge of accepting a concessive statement prepared by seminary missiologist Ian Douglas and (New York) Bishop Mark Sisk, we become faced with an episcopal election that is timed perfectly to upset the whole thing in full, and reduce all previous efforts at compromise to a dead letter."

Zahl said this is what he meant when he described the possible election of a partnered gay bishop in San Francisco as a terrorist bomb that will destroy any hopes of real peace that has actually been evoked quite widely in recent weeks.

"So I stand by the comment. What I believe is the reason for the extreme counter-reaction is the fact that they -- the gay lobby in the Episcopal Church -- have been caught in the act. No one likes being caught in the act."

"Interestingly, their call for an apology describes the "conversation" concerning the second gay bishop as "open" and "honest". It has never been open or honest. It has not been open because any evangelical or Bible-believing input is completely thrown out of the room right from the start. And it is not honest because it refuses to acknowledge the abuse of power that is currently being exercised by many Episcopal bishops in the name of this agenda, and the many, many ministries that have been wrecked in the name of "inclusion". So I cannot grant the premises of their call for an apology."

Also calling for an apology from the dean was Human Rights Campaign Religion and Faith Program Director Harry Knox. "Reverend Zahl should apologize for spouting such harmful rhetoric in the middle of an open and honest conversation happening in the life of the church. To liken the election of an openly gay bishop to a 'terrorist bomb' is one of the most outrageous comments made by a radical conservative fringe in the church that has certainly made some outrageous comments in the last few years."

The Human Rights Campaign claims to be the nation's largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization.

On Saturday, California Episcopalians will elect a new bishop to head the Diocese of California. Three of the seven candidates being considered in this weekend's election are openly gay.

Dr. Zahl's refusal to back down is a sign of the growing resistance to the pansexual revisionist steamroller that has been driving over the Episcopal Church for more than 40 years and reached its zenith in 2003 when the Rev. V. Gene Robinson was elected as the Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop by New Hampshire Episcopalians.

Since that time, the Episcopal Church worldwide has been publicly warned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, the Windsor Report, and even by U.S. Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold to hold off on ordaining another openly gay bishop. To do so could fracture already unstable relationships that now exist between the Global South and the liberal western Anglican churches. A worldwide realignment of Anglican is already underway, most notably in the Episcopal Church, USA.

Dr. Zahl is right, it will be like tossing a bomb into a peace process, and if that happens the Episcopal Church will have no one to blame but itself, if it finds itself shattered and ultimately excluded from Lambeth 2008 when all the bishops of the Anglican Communion gather together in Canterbury.

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