The Rev. Jerry Falwell has told supporters in a new fund-raising letter that he is organizing a campaign to take advantage of President Bush's popularity from the war to press aggressively for a conservative, "pro-family" social agenda. reports The New York Times. "Now is the time for President Bush to get his conservative pro-family agenda through Congress because public support for President Bush will never be stronger than it is now," Falwell wrote in the recent fund-raising appeal for the Jerry Falwell Ministries. "The Democrat and liberal media attacks will soon start taking their toll again."

The fund-raising letter demonstrates that Falwell has not been deterred from moving ahead with his agenda, even after a rebuke from the White House over his controversial comments blaming the September 11 terrorist attacks on gays and lesbians, among other groups.

Falwell, who said he sent his letter to more than 2 million Christians, asserted that Bush was enthusiastic about his plans to rally conservative voters. "President Bush and I are longtime friends," Falwell said. "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."

But White House spokesman Scott McClellan disputed what Falwell said in the letter, telling the Times, "We're not aware of any conversation he had with the president on this."