Mosque study shows rapid U.S. growth in last decade

The number of mosques in America has jumped 74 percent since 2000,
and the majority of them—56 percent— espouse a less-than-literal
approach to interpreting Islam's holy texts.

These are some of the
findings of a major new survey of American mosques that was released
February 29, the third study produced by a coalition of Islamic civic
groups and Muslim and non-Muslim religion scholars. "Islam," said David
Roozen of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, part of Hartford
Seminary, "is one of the few growth spots in America's religious
mosaic."

Leaders of the institutions that sponsored the survey
offered it as a counterargument to the currents of Islamophobia that
they say have tainted much political and personal discourse during the
past ten years. The report, they said, shows a strong willingness on the
part of mosque leaders to encourage worshipers to engage in American
society, including its politics.