or the first time since it was created by a special Executive Order signed by President Bush, an expansive effort to subsidize faith-based social programs could be in serious trouble. A report on the current beliefnet.com web site asks whether the Bush plan is "sinking," and there are indications that John DiIulio, director of the new White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives is having trouble enlisting the support of key necessary backers despite a grueling travel schedule and addresses before various religious groups.

   So far, the Bush administration has failed to win the support of a key constituency which provided big votes and fielded a small army of precinct volunteers during last year's presidential campaign -- the religious right. Key religious conservatives including Pat Robertson, founder of Christian Coalition have expressed opposition to the Bush faith-based initiative, saying that it threatens the independence of religious groups and could lead to government regulation. Now, televangelist Jerry Falwell, who dived into the political fray after semi-retirement as a religious right leader in the 1980s and early 90s, says that he has "deep concerns" about the program, and would withhold public funding from certain religious groups, including Muslim organizations.

   During the recent campaign, Falwell mobilized a huge political outreach on behalf of George W. Bush known as "People of Faith 2000."

   ¶    In an interview earlier this week with the beliefnet.com web site, Falwell said that while he supports the Bush presidency, he has serious reservations where the faith-based initiative may lead under subsequent administrations.

   Referring to his ministry and chancellorship of Liberty University, Falwell declared, "We have never accepted any government grants or funding, whether federal state or local" and, "It is doubtful that we will ever apply for any assistance under the faith-based initiatives." Falwell admitted, though, that he might reconsider "once I have seen enough years of safety and consistency with no strings attached (to funding)."

   The most controversial remarks, however, came when Falwell discussed the latitude of funding under the new White House faith initiatives. He mentioned a "pork barrel" of federal revenues with "the Church of Scientology, the Jehovah Witnesses, the various and many denominations and religious groups ... and I don't see how any can be turned down because of their radical and unpopular views."

   He added that any funding should go to organizations which already have programs in place to help the poor, not to those starting new ministries and outreaches. Falwell proposed establishing "criteria ... which make only seasoned veterans in the ministry to the poor and imprisoned even eligible to apply." Surprisingly, he suggested "that no religious teaching, preaching, or ministry is funded at all," but then reversed course and declared, "That doesn't mean they cannot do it their way, but they cannot add something of a religious nature just because the money is there."

   Other groups were included in Falwell's not-eligible list for public funding of faith-based social outreaches, including the racist Christian Identity group known as Aryan Nations. He added that "Scientology has a terrible track record of bigotry," and described the controversial religious sect founded by the late science fiction pulp writer L. Ron Hubbard as "cultic."

   Falwell also was critical of the Islamic religion, and said that "The Moslem faith teaches hate."

   He cited "clear evidence" that in Islamic nations, people of other religious beliefs are not free "to express themselves or evangelize or to exist in their presence." As for seeking funds from Mr. Bush's White House initiative, Falwell added, "For that reason, Islam should be out the door before they knock."

   That statement ignited a fury from various Muslim groups and publications. Following up on the beliefnet.com interview, Falwell told USA TODAY that "Most American mosques and most individual Muslims are people of love who would hold no bigotry toward anyone. But I did say anyone who steps up to the door bearing any bigotry toward any human being should be disqualified (for federal grants)."

   According to NewsMax, "Islamic, Christian and Jewish leaders, even a spokesman for the Middle East terrorist group Hezbollah, denounced Falwell's remarks."

   "These offensive remarks are symptomatic of the very intolerance that you claim Islam promotes," said Omar Ahmad, Chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in a letter faxed to the televangelist. "No faith would accept being excluded from productive participation in our society based on such falsehoods." The letter called for an open apology from Falwell, and suggested that his remarks "could lead to discrimination and even physical attacks against Muslims."

   NewsMax noted that Falwell's comments "illuminate simmering sectarian and secular free-for-all now underway over the new Faith-Based and Community Initiatives effort, headed by Bush appointee John DiIulio..."

   ¶    For his part, Mr. DiIulio is spending considerable time on the road trying to "sell" the Bush White House church-state partnership scheme in the face of growing skepticism and opposition.

   So far, he has produced mediocre results. Richard Land of the powerful Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission said that while he hopes the Bush program receives approval on capitol hill, he personally "would not touch the money with the proverbial 10-foot pole." There are also reports that another cornerstone of Bush support, James Dobson's Focus on the Family group, is "still studying" the White House plan, but says that it would probably not accept any money were it eligible. Other news stories over the past several days point to remarks by Marvin Olasky, author of "The Tragedy of American Conservatism" and a key proponent of faith-based social programs, in which he, too, raises doubts about the wisdom of religious groups accepting government funds.For Olasky and many others, the principle of government subsidies is not so much the problem, as are the possible controls which faith-based groups may be required to operate under. Another fear, according to beliefnet.com writers Deborah Caldwell and Steven Waldman is that the White House program "would have to offer money to religions outside the mainstream -- out of both fairness and the need to pass constitutional muster."

   ¶    Yesterday, John DiIulio lashed out at religious right critics and, according to the Washington Post, aggravated "a rare rift between the new administration and once-loyal social conservatives. " The director of the new White House outreach made his remarks at a meeting in Dallas, Texas of the National Association of Evangelicals.

   "It's fine to fret about 'hijacked faith,' " DiIulio told the group, "but to many brothers and sisters who are desperately ministering to the needs of those who the rest of us in this prosperous society have left behind, such frets would persuade more and rankle less if they were backed by real human and financial help."

   Referring to attacks from Richard Land of the SBC, and Falwell's remarks concerning Muslims and other sects applying for government grants, DiIulio countered: "With all due respect and in all good fellowship, predominately white, exurban evangelical and national para-church leaders should be careful not to presume to speak for any person other than themselves and their own churches."

   He also tried to reassure liberals that religious groups would not be permitted to take public funding and then discriminate on the basis of hiring staff. He remarks, though, fell short. DiIulio argued out that "secular nonprofits promote sex education and hire like-minded people. No strongly pro-life or pro-abstinence persons, religious or not, need apply, but that is their right."

   DiIulio pointed to polls by the Gallup organization and others which suggest that "most citizens ... believe religion can help 'answer all or most of today's problems.' " He also praised another study recently released by the Pew Charitable Trusts claiming that "most Americans believe 'local churches, synagogues or mosques,' together with 'organizations such as the Salvation Army, Goodwill Industries and Habitat for Humanity,' are top problem-solving organizations."

   DiIulio told his audience that he agreed with critics of Charitable Choice and other aid-to-religion schemes in that "there is no effective way to segregate fiscal accounts. Money, they remind us, in fungible, and tax dollars will leak between Bible studies and soup kitchens... Anyone who has ever worked in or studied secular nonprofits that get government grants (universities, ahem, come to mind) knows that funds sometimes 'leak' between projects.

   ¶    Another sign that the faith-based initiative could be in trouble: the deafening silence on capitol hill. There are currently nearly a dozen legislative items with the phrase "faith-based" in their provisions, but so far there is no word of the funding master-plan to energize the new White Office that was to have been introduced by Sens. Joseph Lieberman and Rick Santorum in the Senate, and Reps. J.C. Watts and Tony Hall over in the House. Cloak room buzz about the measure has been going on for nearly three weeks, when Cox News Service first broke the story; and last week, Sen. Lieberman again signalled that he was crafting the legislation. Growing opposition to the plan, however, could abort the measure, or seriously alter its scale.

   ¶    For the second time in a month, DiIulio and his staff have had to field questions about an almost certain legal challenge to the White House faith-based initiative even if lawmakers do vote for funding. The climate of opposition is so widespread that DiIulio is constantly on the road trying to garner support, or fielding tough questions from news organizations. Earlier this week, an Associated Press story noted that "He (DiIulio) acknowledges that government money may wind up paying for programs that require involvement in religion, even require someone to profess particular religious views."

   He also anticipates legal challenges. "Americans sue each other, they sue and sue and sue. I guess it's going to happen."

   The Philadelphia Inquirer described DiIulio's visit to that city as a "mobile classroom for selling President Bush's faith-based initiatives program to a tough hometown audience." Indeed, the first question from the audience at the Jewish Federation auditorium mentioned concerns that Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, Scientologists and the Nation of Islam could receive public funding under the Bush initiative. DiIulio replied that his new office would institute a "performance audit," but that would affect only the five U.S. government agencies ordered by the president to establish faith-based outreaches.

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