Bott, a popular religion professor at BYU and the highest-rated professor in America in 2008 according to ratemyprofessor.com, told students in his missionary preparation class Wednesday that he gave the interview to the Post because he was under the impression that the reporter had permission from the church to talk to him.

"He said he had been misquoted," said Katie Cutler, a junior in linguistics from Yorktown, Va. "He said he just shared the scriptures with the reporter and told them that the church hasn't given an official reason for the priesthood ban."

Stephen Whitaker, a BYU graduate who now lives in New Haven, Conn., wrote a concerned email to Professor Bott after reading the story in the Washington Post. Whitaker said that in a "very kind" return email Bott indicated to him that he felt he had been misrepresented in the Post, and that he regretted that the reporter had not given him an opportunity to review his quotes before the story was published.

"He said that if he had been able to read his quotes in advance he would have made significant changes," Whitaker said.