In court filings July 7, the IRS has largely backed down on a decades-old rule that barred churches from engaging in political activity.

The Internal Revenue Service’s proposed consent decree with religious organizations to allow churches to speak about political campaigns without losing their nonprofit status faced opposition Thursday from an advocacy group seeking to stop the accord.

A 2019 survey by Pew Research found that 76% of Americans and 70% of Christians say clergy should not endorse candidates from the pulpit, though evangelicals (62%) and Black Protestants (55%) are less likely to disapprove. Nearly two-thirds of Americans wanted churches to stay out of politics.