Practicing
Muslims 'Will Outnumber Christians By 2035 (In
The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 5-8-2008 | George Pitcher
Posted on Wednesday,
May 07, 2008 6:15:34 PM by blam
Practicing Muslims 'will outnumber Christians
by 2035'
Last Updated: 2:41AM BST 08/05/2008
Practicing Muslims will outnumber worshipping
Christians in
By 2035, there will be about 1.96 million active
Muslims in
The figures are published in the latest in a
series of reports entitled Religious Trends.
The think-tank has warned that 4,000 churches could
close by 2020 if congregations continue to shrink at current rates.
According to the most recent figures from the
Church of England, regular Sunday, weekly and monthly attendance each fell by
one per cent in 2006.
Fewer than a million people attend church every
Sunday.
Although at the last count there were only
1.6million Muslims living in
More than half of the Muslims who responded to the
2001 census said they prayed every day, compared to 6.3 per cent of Christians
who attend church services each week.
Christian Research describes its aim as
encouraging "change in Christian culture so that by 2010 more churches are
growing".
The Church of England moved to discredit the
research last night, criticizing its methodology and saying the results were
"flawed and dangerously misleading".
A C of E spokesman said: "These sorts of
statistics, based on dubious presumptions, do no one of any faith any favors.
"Faith communities are not in competition and
simplistic research like this is misleading and unhelpful."
The research does not compare like with like,
according to the spokesman. The number of practising
Muslims, for instance, is based on the number of people who said they were
active in the 2001 census.
If the same process were applied to Christians it
would give a figure of 20 million active churchgoers, according to Church
House, the headquarters of the C of E.
The study used the number of adults on the
Church's parish-based formal voting lists as the sole measure of its active
"members".
This omitted large numbers who worship every week
and are involved in their churches in other ways, according to Church House.
The Rev Lynda Barley, head of research and
statistics for the Archbishops' Council, said last night: "There are more
than 1.7 million people worshipping in a Church of England church or cathedral
each month, a figure which is 30 per cent higher than the electoral roll figures
and has remained stable since 2000.
"More are involved in fresh expressions of
church and chaplaincies across the country and we have no reason to believe
that this will drop significantly in the next decade.
"These statistics are incomplete and represent
only a partial picture of religious trends in