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Actually, the title is misleading. Churches are perfectly free to endorse candidates and to lobby for legislation (such as anti-abortion laws). What they are not free to do is to retain their tax-exempt status upon doing so. No one's being gagged. It's their own desire to suck at the government teat that is plugging their mouths.

This law doesn't prevent churches from hosting politicians to speak to their congregations, nor does it prevent pastors from speaking out on abortion, or other issues of the day. Churches supporting conservative causes are as welcome to do this as those supporting liberal causes. Certainly there are plenty of conservative pastors speaking out against abortion.

What it does do is prevent said churches from donating money to a party, or to a candidate. It also prevents a church from campaigning, as a church (as opposed to individuals) for a candidate or from endorsing a candidate, while still retaining their tax-free status. Political organizations (GOP, Dems, etc.) are not tax-exempt, and your donations to them are not tax-deductible (as opposed to donations to churches). If a church starts acting like a political party or a PAC, then they become taxable.

The tax-exempt status of churches and other nonprofit organizations is a baited trap for those organizations. A few years ago, a Catholic bishop spoke about the possibility of excommunicating the numerous Catholic politicians who favored abortion on demand. Rep. Charles Rangel, of the House Ways and Means Committee, a pro-abortion Democrat and a communicant Catholic, questioned whether his church would retain its tax-exempt status if the bishops started excommunication procedures. Not one pro-abortion politician has been excommunicated from the Catholic Church, to my knowledge. Not that this is a Catholic problem alone; the Southern Baptist Convention has yet to condemn First Baptist Church of Little Rock, home church of President Clinton, for failing to exercise church discipline against X42.

Since the law was passed 48 years ago, the Executive Branch has been held by the Republicans for 28 of those 48 years. If any enforcement of the political prohibition against nonprofits, churches or otherwise, was conducted by the Justice Department or the IRS at any time from Eisenhower to Bush II, I am not aware of it. Black churches are the most flagrant violators, but environmentalist groups like the Nature Conservancy and the Sierra Club are equally guilty of advocacy of liberal causes. Unfortunately, prosecuting a black organizaion, even a corrupt one like Jesse Jackson's Operation Push, is perceived as political poison. Likewise, going after environmental groups, especially ones like the Nature Conservancy, with its facade of moderation and cash payments to landowners, is also seen as political poison.

Sometimes, I have to agree with the cynics who point out that our two party system consists of the Evil Party (Democrats) and the Stupid Party (Republicans). In any case, the law muzzling churches' political speech at the expense of losing their tax exempt status has never been enforced equitably, nor is it likely to be enforced fairly. The law is bad public policy and needs to be repealed.

Let's see!

Amendment I, U.S. Constitution:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"

The IRS code is a law made by Congress. Tax laws, whether to tax a religion or to prohibit political speech because of tax exempt status, is "...prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"

The tax code, as applied to religion's, is blatantly and categorically unconstitutional.

Just because a "benefit" may accrue from a federal law, "...desire to suck at the government teat...," as you put it, the law(s) still cannot violate the Bill of Rights.