The Internal Revenue Service announced on Monday that churches and other places of worship can support political candidates for their congregations, creating an exception to a decades-old prohibition on political involvement by tax-exempt nonprofits, as reported by the New York Times. 

The agency issued the remark in a court filing to resolve a lawsuit brought by two Texas churches and a Christian broadcasters' group. 

The plaintiffs who sued the IRS had earlier urged a federal court in Texas to create an even broader exception, stating that all charities, religious and secular, were free to endorse candidates for their members, according to the outlet. That would have undermined a fundamental principle of American nonprofit law: tax-exempt organizations cannot be utilized as campaign tools.

Instead, the IRS agreed to a tighter carveout, which experts in nonprofit law predicted would significantly boost politicking in churches, despite it mostly appearing to formalize what seemed to be the agency's unwritten stance. 

According to the government, if a place of religion endorses a candidate to its congregants, the IRS will see it as a private affair, similar to "a family discussion concerning candidates," The New York Times reports. 

"Thus, communications from a house of worship to its congregation in connection with religious services through its usual channels of communication on matters of faith do not run afoul of the Johnson Amendment as properly interpreted," the agency stated in a joint motion with the plaintiffs. 

The restriction on nonprofit campaigning is named after former President Lyndon B. Johnson, who proposed it as a senator in 1954.  

In the brief, the IRS and the plaintiffs urged a federal judge to issue an injunction to prevent high government officials, and any subsequent presidential administrations, from implementing the prohibition against the groups that sued. 

The National Council of NGOs, which represents 30,000 such organizations, warned that enabling tax-exempt organizations to support candidates might lead to a future in which political groups utilize NGOs as a form of legal cover.