Adams said the biasfire.com Web site became something of a "lightning rod" for people who believe the APA has an inborn bias against religion in general.

The apology also said that "In response to this unfortunate occurrence, APA is taking steps to protect against the use of offensive language in the convention program in the future and, more generally, is working to ensure openness to religious diversity throughout the association."

Adams said he won't try to interpret what that means. "I have no idea what they've got in mind or how serious they intend to take that.

"I think there is a bias there. There are studies that have found psychologists as a group are less religious than other people." The history of psychology is filled with theories about religious "oppression," he said. Many practitioners "still have some of that old-time thinking."

From his perspective, the issue has now been resolved. "We don't want to be sore losers or people carrying a grudge. We want to bring it to an end and not carry it any further."

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