BOSTON (AP) – Its liberal reputation aside, Massachusetts’ political life has never been far removed from the influence of religion – no more so than in the ongoing debate over same-sex marriage.

With the defeat earlier this month of a proposed constitutional amendment that would have outlawed same-sex marriage, opponents are now pinning their hopes on an even more restrictive ban.

And they are increasingly relying on churches not only to lend moral weight to the fight, but to help collect the thousands of signatures needed to place the question on the 2008 ballot.

In a letter read at masses last weekend, Boston Catholic Archbishop Sean P. O’Malley urged parishioners to sign the petition as a way to protect traditional marriage. The new ban would bar same-sex marriage while making no provision for civil unions.

“Family life has been subjected to increasing pressures in recent years, often to the detriment of children,” O’Malley wrote. “An expansion of the definition of marriage will not benefit families but further erode the unique and important role that marriage plays in contributing to society.”

The organizing effort is impressive.

Supporters of the new ban have posted online instructions for parish organizers, including sample blurbs that could be placed in local church bulletins alerting parishioners to the signature drive.

While the Catholic Church is taking the lead role in this heavily Catholic state, some Protestant churches are sponsoring petition drives.

The task is daunting. Under state election law, supporters must gather more than 65,000 signatures before Nov. 23. Anticipating challenges, activists are hoping to collect almost double that number.

Earlier this month, state lawmakers voted 157-39 against a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would have banned same-sex marriage but allowed civil unions. To get the more restrictive ban on the 2008 ballot, supporters must win the support of 50 lawmakers in two successive legislative sessions, even after collecting the signatures.

In the past year and a half, interest in same-sex marriage – once a fierce topic on Beacon Hill – has waned. More than 6,100 same-sex couples have wed in Massachusetts, the only state to recognize same-sex marriage.

But those involved in the newest push against same-sex marriage have no plans to back down. They say the fact that they are driven in part by their faith is beside the point, politically.

They say they just want to give voters a chance to weigh in on the issue. A narrow 4-3 ruling by Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court in 2003 required the state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but the issue hasn’t been put to a popular vote.

“Churches are a part of society and as churches we have, like everyone else, a voice in the public forum,” said Fr. Richard Cannon, pastor of St. John the Baptist Church in Quincy. “I think the regular Catholic churchgoing crowd would be in favor of preserving traditional marriage.”

Daniel Avila, associate director for policy and research for the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, the public policy arm for the state’s bishops, said churches just want to let voters set the definition of marriage.

“I don’t see this as a civil rights issue,” Avila said. “Civil rights are not what four judges come up with.”

Those who support same-sex marriage have also invoked the language of faith.

While the Catholic Church officially opposes same-sex marriage, many individual Catholics find themselves torn.

Kathy and John Shea are devout Catholics from the Boston suburb of Needham. They say their views were forever changed when one of their sons told them he was gay.

Kathy Shea said the family accepted his sexual orientation, and didn’t see a conflict with their faith.

“I consider him a gift of God’s creation and fully accept him in the realm of the Catholic Church,” Kathy Shea said. “I cannot tell the churches what to do. … I can only say that I want all of my friends and relatives and other Catholics to look within the very core of who they are and discover how they truly feel.”

Marianne Duddy-Burke is Catholic, gay, and as of June 20, 2004, married. She and her spouse Becky timed their wedding for the same day their daughter, Emily, was baptized a Catholic.

“It was a joy to have both those events witnessed by well over 100 people, the vast number of whom, more than 90 percent, were Catholic,” she said.

But for many other Catholics, opening the doors of marriage to same-sex couples is going too far.

Bea Martins, a 62-year-old grandmother of nine from the working class city of Fall River, said those who back the ban only want what’s best for society.

“As a grandmother, I want to leave a world that’s best for my grandchildren,” she said. “How women think and how men think are very different. When you are raising children the wonderful insights that men can bring and women can bring help raise the child.”