الولايات المتحدة: المسلمون ثالث أكبر جماعة دينية بولاية إلينوي

- خبر من مصادر إنجليزية.

كشف تقرير مجمع الديانات الأمريكية بمدينة "شيكاغو" أن المجتمع الإسلامي أصبح أكبر ثالث جماعة دينية بالولاية، تاليًا نصارى الكاثوليك والإنجيليين، مشيرًا إلى سرعة نمو وانتشار الإسلام بين المواطنين بالولاية.

وقد أكد الأئمة وعلماء الاجتماع على أهمية النتائج التي تبين وضع الديانات بـ"الولايات المتحدة" وأماكن انتشارها، هذا إضافة إلى تأكيد "أحلام جبرا" على أهمية بيان إسهامات المسلمين للمجتمع الأمريكي. المصدر: شبكة الألوكة.

يرجى الإشارة إلى المصدر عند نقل الخبر – شبكة الألوكة.

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Muslims bypass Mormons as fastest-growing religion in Illinois

Muslims have become the third-largest religious group in the state after Roman Catholics and independent evangelicals. Not to mention, the fastest-growing one.

That's according to a census of American religious congregations unveiled Tuesday in Chicago.

This year, for the first time, the nationwide aggregation of religious traditions, dubbed the "Religion Census," counted nondenominational evangelical congregations, ranging from storefront sanctuaries to megachurches with multiple sites such as Willow Creek Community Church.

That calculation revealed that evangelicals affiliated with independent churches make up the second-largest religious group in Illinois. In fact, in 48 of the 50 states, independent evangelicals occupy a top-five spot. In the Chicago area, Illinois and nationwide, Roman Catholics rank as the largest religious group.

With 176 religious traditions, Illinois slipped from its top spot as the most religiously diverse state in 2000, falling to Pennsylvania with 184.

Religious leaders and sociologists welcomed the bird's-eye view of America's religious landscape as a helpful tool for determining where to evangelize and understanding where certain religious traditions thrive. But some caution that the numbers and rankings shouldn't be taken as gospel because religious groups apply different standards for counting adherents.

"We're always saying how much we contribute to the state of Illinois, but it's more anecdotal," said Ahlam Jbara, interim executive director of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago. "As somebody dealing with government officials, it's about numbers as well. Here's information, here's real data in our community which we really haven't been able to show."

The religion census is the latest in a series of reports released each decade to coincide with figures from the U.S. census. It is compiled by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies. The 2010 edition is the sixth since the U.S. Census Bureaufirst excluded religious affiliation after World War II.