The Progressive National Baptist Convention hopes to have presidential contenders Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain speak to its annual convention in Atlanta in August.

It is one of the larger black denominations in the U.S., claiming more than 2,000 churches and 2.5 million members in the U.S. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was a member.

All the candidates have been invited, a church spokesman said.

The candidates have courted religious voters, showing up to speak at churches such as super pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in Southern California, and the Democrats debated values and faith at a Christian college earlier this year.

The annual convention will take place Aug. 3-8 at the Marriott Marquis on Peachtree Street.

The Rev. T. DeWitt Smith, who leads Trinity Baptist Church of Metropolitan Atlanta, is its president.