PHOENIX (AP) — A Southern Baptist Convention in Phoenix, Arizona, denounced same-sex marriage and homosexuality at its annual meeting, while asking members to help gays become heterosexual through Christian faith.

The nation’s largest Protestant denomination also spent much of the gathering that ended June 18 defending the right of evangelicals to proclaim their religion the only path to salvation.

“There are forces that attempt to silence us, who say don’t intrude on our lives,” said the Rev. Jack Graham, the Southern Baptist president. “We cannot resist the love and the call of God to penetrate our world.”

The denomination made a special plea to its more than 42,000 churches to befriend gays and help “liberate” them from homosexuality. Gay rights groups said the initiative promoted hatred.

The Southern Baptists also urged all judges and public officials to join them in opposing same-sex marriage.

“Legalizing same-sex ‘marriage’ would convey a societal approval of a homosexual lifestyle, which the Bible calls sinful and dangerous,” reads one of the resolutions passed during the meeting.

No U.S. state recognizes same-sex marriages, though Vermont has instituted civil unions that give gay and lesbian couples the benefits and responsibilities of marriage. Canada recently legalized gay marriage.

The denomination acknowledged the severity of the global AIDS crisis and expressed support for President Bush’s $15 billion initiative to fight AIDS overseas. Bush addressed the meeting in a videotaped message, calling the 16 million Southern Baptists “faithful servants” and asking God to bless them.

The denomination also came out against distributing condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS. Abstinence education programs that emphasize “a Biblical view of sexuality” would be more effective, they said.