Muslims number 2.6 million, much against their own estimates of seven million.
American Muslims grew in number over the past decade, outnumbering Jews for the first time in most of the Midwest and part of the
South, while most mainline churches lost adherents, according to a census of American religions released recently. The number of
adherents of Islam rose to 2.6 million in 2010 from one million in 2000, fueled by immigration and conversions, said Dale Jones, a researcher who worked on the study by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies. “Christians are the largest
group in every state, but some of the things we found interesting was the growth of the Mormons, who reported the largest numerical gain in 26 states,” said Jones, who presented the report to a conference in Chicago. The number of Mormons, whose Utah-based church’s formal name is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, grew by 45% to 6.1 million in 2010, according to the census,
which asked 236 religions to count their own adherents. Family members of adherents were generally included in the numbers. Mormons are a sect of Christianity mainly concentrated in the State of Utah and Wyoming and follow a civil code akin to Muslims.
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