Gavin Schmidt, a scientist at NASA and the keeper of realclimate.org, an anti-sceptic blog, wrote that that e-mail was very ill-advised.

ECONOMIST: Leaked e-mails do not show climate scientists at their best

If you have to plead, "it was a joke" then obviously it wasn't, or at the very least, ill advised and insensitive.

BBC: Religious satire: Is it beyond a joke?