BOSTON (AP) — A coalition of Massachusetts clergy, mostly from Jewish and Protestant denominations, has come out in support of same-sex marriage, saying laws sanctioning the practice would not threaten anyone’s religion.

The clergy, who met at Boston’s Unitarian Universalist Association headquarters June 5, said that more than 350 clergy statewide support same-sex unions.

“Everyone on the list is in agreement that the right of gay and lesbian couples is a matter of civil, and not religious law,” said Rabbi Devon Lerner, co-chair of the Religious Coalition for Freedom to Marry. “We see how harmful it is to gay and lesbian families not to have the rights of a civil marriage.”

The June 5 stance came about a week after the state’s four Roman Catholic bishops wrote a letter to parish priests urging them to remind parishioners that the church opposes same-sex marriages and to ask parishioners to support a proposed constitutional amendment that would define marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

“We ask everyone in the church to write, call or e-mail your state senator and state representative, and to get your friends to do the same,” the letter said.

The statement was signed by Bishop Richard G. Lennon, the interim head of the Boston Archdiocese, and other clergy.

The statement came at a time when the same-sex marriage issue is pending in both the state’s highest court and the state Legislature.

The Supreme Judicial Court is considering whether the state Constitution allows same-sex marriage.

The legislative amendment “is no more in the interest of society to deny legal status to same-gender marriages than it would be to abolish heterosexual marriage,” said Rabbi Ronne Friedman of Temple Israel in Boston, a reform congregation that performs same-sex ceremonies.

The goal of the group was to let the public know that not all religions oppose same-sex marriage.