Muslims could become Europe’s dominant population

While church attendance in Europe is continuing to decline, the level of Muslim religious participation and the Muslim population itself is exploding, according to an article on CNSNews.com.

Recent surveys show that church attendance in Western Europe is dropping precipitously.

According to a 2005 survey by Christian Research, a UK think tank, only 6.3% of the British population attended Christian services on a weekly basis.

The research group also suggested that around 4,000 churches will close over the next 15 years, being sold off or rehabilitated for other uses.

Meanwhile, experts say more European Muslims are becoming more devout, going to mosques and learning more about their religion.

In recent years, young European Muslims returned to the faith which their parents observed only sporadically, according to the CNSNews article.

Although Muslims only make up around 3% of Britain’s population, Christian Research says that in 35 years there will be twice as many Muslims in mosques on Friday as there are Christians in churches on Sunday.

A 2004 ICM poll showed that 51% of the 500 British Muslims surveyed prayed every day.

In November, a study by the Spanish magazine Alba said that more mosques and Islamic centers have been built in France than churches over the last century, with over 4,000 mosques currently serving the largest Muslim population in Europe.

Tens of thousands of Muslims immigrated to Europe over the last century, and thousands of European Christians are converting to Islam each day, leading some experts to predict that Muslim immigrants will become the dominant population in the continent by the end of this century.

In January, the Islam-Archive Central Institute, a government-sponsored think tank, predicted that Muslims will be the majority population of Germany by 2046, based on fertility rates.

Nicole Bourque, a British professor of religious studies at Glasgow University, predicted that more Christians would embrace Islam in the coming years.

She said she knew of around 200 converts in Glasgow alone, mostly lapsed Christians who had grown up without a strong religious background.

While many of the converts were women who married Muslim men, Bourque said many others have been attracted to learn more about Islam by its increased profile since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

-- AJP and Agencies