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In the wake of November's elections, James Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, is convinced that America is clamoring for a "faith-based" initiative now more than ever.

President George W. Bush, Towey told attendees at a conference on faith-based initiatives in Washington Dec. 9, viewed his re-election in part as a referendum on the faith-based plan. Now that the president has been returned to office, he intends to push even harder for the plan, Towey said.

"As he looks to his second term, President Bush is now reviewing several general priorities, but he is renewing his commitment to faith-based and community initiatives," said Towey. "I spoke with him last night, I saw him earlier, after the election. I think he feels very much that the election had, as part of the decision that American voters faced, [a part related to] his faith-based initiative. He very clearly staked out where he stood, and a majority of Americans supported that, and he will continue to do it in a way that is sensible and constitutional."

Later in the speech, which was delivered before a conference sponsored by the Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy, Towey vowed to fight "secular extremists" who oppose the Bush church-funding gambit. He singled out Americans United and the group's executive director, Barry W. Lynn, by name.

"Barry Lynn should send the president a dozen roses for all the fund-raising help this has given him," groused Towey.

The Bush push to fund religious groups with tax money is likely to get a lot of help from some members of Congress. Although Bush failed during his first term to win passage of a wide-ranging faith-based bill, his allies in Congress are promising this year will be different.

"We want to come back to it," U.S. Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) told the conservative Washington Times Nov. 26. "We've got a new Senate and a conservative mandate from millions of voters who said 'yes' to traditional values."

Pence claimed there is an "untapped reservoir" for Bush's church funding scheme.

With the 109th Congress going into session this month, Americans United and other defenders of church-state separation know they will have their work cut out for them. The re-election of Bush and the increase in Republican majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate have emboldened the Religious Right. The groups want action on their agenda, and they want it now.

To keep them happy, Bush is likely to move quickly this month on his long-stalled faith-based initiative to award tax money to religious groups so that they may provide social services.

Bush unveiled the far-reaching proposal shortly after taking office in 2001. It was his first major domestic policy initiative, and the president obviously had high hopes for it.

Under Bush's scheme, religious organizations would receive potentially billions in taxpayer subsidies to provide an array of social services, from helping drug addicts and persuading teenagers to forgo sexual activity to job training and providing beds and meals for the homeless. Bush insisted that proselytizing would not be part of these publicly funded efforts but then confused the issue by repeatedly visiting and praising groups that included heavy doses of mandatory religious activity, mostly fundamentalist Christian, in their programs.

A wary Congress refused to back the plan. A scaled-down version that mainly tinkered with the tax code to encourage more charitable giving passed the House and Senate but bogged down in conference committee. Frustrated, Bush issued a series of executive orders implanting as much of the faith-based initiative as possible without congressional approval.

Bush, however, is aware that executive orders have a serious vulnerability: They can be overturned with a pen stroke by a future president. He has pushed all along for faith-based legislation to make the program an enduring one. The new congress may be much more receptive to that overture.

Two sticking points remain: evangelism and religious discrimination in taxpayer-funded programs. Bush and his supporters in the administration insist that they do not favor allowing religious groups to take public funds and then require recipients of services to take part in worship as a condition of receiving help.

But critics say the president has repeatedly backed fundamentalist programs that do exactly that. These programs, opponents say, often assert that an alcoholic, drug addict or habitual criminal cannot overcome his or her problem without first making a life-changing religious profession - that is, converting to a "born-again" Christian.

Such programs, critics say, are essentially religious conversion efforts that cannot be funded with taxpayer money.

The issue of hiring on the basis of religion has also been contentious. Opponents say allowing a religious group to take public funds and then impose religious requirements on employees is wrong and a violation of the nation's civil-rights laws. Bush and his backers insist that religious groups must be permitted to hire and fire in accordance with their theological and moral tenets.

In the Senate, the initiative's leading champion, Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), is still interested in passing his more modest measure.

"We plan to move it as one of the first things," he told The Washington Times.

AU legislative staffers say it remains to be seen which version will get the big push in Congress - the wide-ranging plan that directly funds religious groups or the changes to the tax code. The only question, they say, is one of timing.

As AU gears up for the new session of Congress, staffers in the Legislative Department are watching several other measures. A rundown follows:

The Federal Courts: Court appointments, and especially slots on the Supreme Court, are expected to remain flashpoints for the Senate in 2005. (The House of Representatives has no say over federal court nominees.)

Religious Right groups are salivating at the prospect of a Bush-dominated high court, but there are signs that the Democrats are ready to fight.

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and has not been attending court deliberations this term. Rumors continue to circulate that Rehnquist will step down and that Bush will attempt to replace him with Justice Clarence Thomas.

Appearing on NEC's "Meet the Press" Dec. 5, U.S. Sen. Harry M. Reid, Democratic minority leader, vowed to oppose a Thomas promotion.

"I think he has been an embarrassment to the Supreme Court," Reid said. "I think that his opinions are poorly written. I just don't think he's done a good job."

Meanwhile, Religious Right groups are gearing up for a fight. Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for TV preacher Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice, told The New York Times in December that his group has put aside several million dollars dedicated for the first battle over the Supreme Court.

"There's a comprehensive game plan that will unfold upon the retirement [of a justice]," Sekulow said. "It's already in process. It's going to include everything from media, paid media, to grass roots in various states where senators are up for re-election in '06 to position papers on potential nominees."

Churches and Politics: During the election, Religious Right groups were furious that their attempts to mobilize churches on behalf of the Bush campaign were often stymied by federal tax law.

The Internal Revenue Code prohibits 501(c)(3) tax-exempt groups from endorsing or opposing candidates or intervening in partisan campaigns. Religious Right groups say the provision stifles their free speech and want to see the regulation repealed.

U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones (R-N.C.) is the leading congressional proponent of the tax code change. Jones has promoted the idea for years, and while he has whipped up quite a lot of fury on the Religious Right, it hasn't translated into much action on Capitol Hill.

In October of 2002, Jones engineered a House vote on his bill, which he euphemistically calls the "Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act." It was easily defeated, 239-178, with 45 Republicans voting no. Companion bills in the Senate have never even received a floor vote.

Jones has apparently failed to win over some of his GOP colleagues, who fear that repealing the IRS language will lead to religious conflict.

Nevertheless, with Religious Right groups demanding action, congressional GOP leaders may be forced to schedule another vote on the Jones bill prior to the 2006 mid-term elections.

Court Stripping: Religious Right leaders and their congressional allies are eager to pass legislation that would deny the federal courts the right to hear certain types of cases. The controversial provision, called "court stripping," used to be a fringe idea relegated to the likes of former Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.). These days, it's one of the Religious Right's favorite causes and is promoted by several GOP lawmakers.