While other religions are seeing “fewer people in the pews and decreasing spiritual vitality,” according to the Faith and Communities Today Surveys, Islam continues to show growth in the number of mosques, places of worship, around the country and growth in participation.
“There has been a 50 percent plus growth in the number of mosques and a 30 percent plus growth in the numbers of people participating,” said David A. Roozen, director of the Cooperative Congregational Studies Partnership and professor of religion and society at Hartford Seminary, co-sponsors of the report The American Mosque 2011 released February 29.
The report found Muslims exhibit higher spiritual vitality compared to other Christian religions. “There is consistent consensus that Islam is fastly growing and could be the fastest growing religion in America,” said Mr. Roozen.
This growth is in sharp contrast to the rapid growth of Islamophobia in America. The 2010 FBI Hate Crime Statistics found anti-Muslim hate crimes were up a staggering 50 percent from 107 in 2009 to 160 in 2010. Many see this rise fueled by people concerned about the growth of Islam in America.
“The growth of Islam should not be their worry,” explained Mr. Roozen. The growth in Islam is attributed to Muslims having higher birth rates, immigration and higher conversion rates.
“What they should be worried about is the growing secular, non-religious community. That’s the fastest growing community. They are 14 percent to 16 percent of the population. They should also be concerned about the decline in denominations. Some have lost from one-third to 40 percent of their congregations,” said Mr. Roozen.
“Evangelicals are declining. Why can’t they keep their congregations?” he asked. “What about the Buddhists and Hindus? There are the same number of Buddhists in America as Muslims.”
The research found other religions are declining at a rate of one percent each year while Islam is growing at a rate of three percent each year.
The report is the first part of the larger U.S. Mosque Survey 2011 to be published. Researchers counted all mosques in America and then conducted telephone interviews with a sample of mosque leaders. Dr. Ihsan Bagby, associate professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Kentucky is the report’s author.
Major findings include:
• The number of mosques and mosque participants continues to show significant growth, from 1,209 mosques in 2000 to 2,106 in 2011. New York and California have the largest number of mosques. Seventy-six percent of mosques were established since 1980.
• The majority of mosque leaders (56 percent) adopt a flexible approach to interpretation of Qur’an and Sunnah (the practices of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad) that takes into account the overall purposes of Islamic law and modern circumstances.
• The vast majority (87 percent) of mosque leaders disagree that “radicalism” is increasing among Muslim youth. Many mosque leaders say the real challenge for them is not radicalism and extremism among the youth, but how to attract and keep them close to the mosque
• Mosques remain an extremely diverse religious institution. Only a tiny minority of mosques (three percent) had just one ethnic group that attends that mosque. South Asians, Arab-Americans and African-Americans remain the dominant ethnic groups, but significant numbers of Somalis, West Africans and Iraqis now worship at mosques nationwide.
• The number of mosques in urban areas is decreasing, while the number of mosques in suburban areas is increasing. In 2011, 28 percent of mosques were located in suburbs, up from 16 percent in 2000.
• The conversion rate per mosque has remained steady over the past two decades. In 2011, the average number of converts per mosque was 15.3. In 2000 the average was 16.3 converts per mosque.
• Shia mosques are also expanding in number. Some 44 percent of all Shia mosques were established in the 1990s.
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said, “There’s been a lot of debate about Muslims in America. Are we mainstream or terrorists? American Muslims feel at home despite the growing Islamophobia. They believe in the American Dream.”
“The growth of Islam is steady. Muslims are diverse. Muslims have the answers to America’s social issues including diversity. This report has the answers to many questions about Muslims in America.”
Sponsors of the research include The Hartford Institute for Religion Research, the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, CAIR, the Islamic Society of North American, the Islamic Circle of North America, and the International Institute of Islamic Thought.
The U.S. Mosque Survey 2011 is part of a larger study of American congregations called Faith Communities Today (FACT), which is a project of Cooperative Congregational Studies Partnership, a multi-faith coalition of denominations and faith groups.