Falwell claims Bush support for `call to Christian action'. (People & Events).

TV preacher Jerry Falwell has launched a campaign to raise $1.2 million to push President George W. Bush's agenda through Congress, an effort the controversial Lynchburg evangelist says has been approved by Bush himself.

In a December fund-raising letter, Falwell pleaded for contributions to keep the "anti-family, anti-Christian liberals" from taking over Congress. The Baptist pastor also asserted that "the liberal left" has launched a "`scorched earth' campaign to destroy President Bush."

Falwell goes on to write, "The liberals know that if they can defeat President Bush's policy agenda in Congress and `Bork' his Court appointments, the Left can solidify their control of the Senate and capture control of the House in 2002 ... and use their power in Congress to complete their destruction of President Bush."

Falwell says he has ordered phone banks in key swing congressional districts to mobilize Christian voters in support of Bush and has hired scriptwriters to produce pro-Bush ads.

"President Bush and I are long-time friends," Falwell writes. "He's counting on me to mobilize my Christian supporters and build a groundswell of overwhelming pressure on `wobbly' members of Congress to pass his pro-family legislative agenda, confirm his all-important Supreme Court appointments and defeat the left's campaign to destroy him. He was very excited when I told him about the $1,200,000 `Christian Call to Action' I'm describing to you now."

A Bush administration spokesman refused to confirm Falwell's claims.

"We're not aware of any conversation he had with the president on this," Scott McClellan told The New York Times.

Bush would have good reason to keep Falwell at arm's length. The TV preacher came under nationwide condemnation when he appeared on Pat Robertson's "700 Club" Sept. 13 and said the Sept. 11 terrorist attack occurred because God had lifted his protection from the nation. Falwell implied that the United States deserved the attacks and blamed them on church-state separationists, abortion providers and supporters of gay rights.

In other news about the Religious Right:

* Focus on the Family is scaling back its 25th anniversary celebration because of financial problems and concerns about security. The organization had planned a large, public three-day event this summer at the U.S. Air Force Academy football stadium near its Colorado Springs headquarters. The celebration will now be an invitation-only, one-day event July 27 in Denver, 70 miles to the north.

According to the Religion News Service, FOF officials said a downturn in contributions had played a role in the change but added that security concerns had also escalated in the wake of Sept. 11.

* Former Virginia Attorney General Mark Earley, a favorite of the Religious Right, has accepted a position with Charles Colson's Prison Fellowship Ministries. Earley, who unsuccessfully ran for governor of Virginia last year, will become chief executive officer of the Reston, Va.-based group.

Colson, an ex-Watergate figure, founded the organization in 1976. It operates in all 50 states and has recently been seeking government funding for its prisoner rehabilitation programs, which convert inmates to fundamentalist Christianity.

* TV preacher Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice has opened offices in Washington, D.C. A recent letter from the ACLJ's top attorney, Jay Sekulow, reports that "God has given us an astonishing breakthrough...." The "breakthrough" is a new building directly across the street from the Supreme Court.

Sekulow prods supporters to raise $2 million to "equip" the new building and turn it into a "Washington `Command Center.'" He notes that the office is located near Americans United and other "anti-freedom organizations" and cites the "enormous influence" AU and others have in Washington.

"In fact," Sekulow asserts, "they are working with renewed vigor in their attempts to eradicate faith. So it's critical for us to be up there -- and our new address will put us on a more even footing...."

* Former Family Research Council President Gary Bauer is attempting to exploit the war on terrorism by forming a new organization. Bauer recently announced the formation of the Citizens' Committee to Win the War, a project of his Religious Right organization, American Values.

Bauer ran FRC until he stepped down in 1998 to seek the Republican nomination for the presidency. His campaign crashed after a poor showing in the first round of primaries. Since then, he has been devoting most of his time to his Campaign for Working Families, a political action committee that funnels money to far-right candidates.

Bauer says the new Committee will "help mobilize patriotic citizens -- with timely information and practical steps -- so each of us can participate fully while our nation is at war against those who would seek to deny our freedom and, through terrorism, subject us to death by tyranny."

Bauer, who has never served in the military himself, also promises to "share insights on the importance of maintaining America's historic and God-ordained alliance with Israel."