The latest survey of the PEW Forum should ring the alarm bells in the minds of American Muslims. The leadership of Islamic institutions especially Mosques, schools and other educational and national organizations should study the findings carefully and reflect on them.

The survey showed that "more than one-quarter of American adults (28%) have left the faith in which they were raised in favor of another religion - or no religion at all. The survey finds that constant movement characterizes the American religious marketplace, as every major religious group is simultaneously gaining and losing adherents. Those that are growing as a result of religious change are simply gaining new members at a faster rate than they are losing members. Conversely, those that are declining in number because of religious change simply are not attracting enough new members to offset the number of adherents who are leaving those particular faiths."

Another interesting finding of the study is that the biggest gainer of religious groups is not Islam or Christian denominations, but the unaffiliated groups (agnostics, atheists, and others) followed by nondenominational Protestant churches. The much repeated and pacifying claim that "Islam is the fastest growing religion in the US" cannot be supported by the above mentioned study. Among the "established religions," Buddhism is faster growing than Islam in the U.S.

In the losing category, the group that has experienced the greatest net loss by far is the Catholic Church. Overall, 31.4% of U.S. adults say that they were raised Catholic. Today, however, only 23.9% of adults identify with the Catholic Church, a net loss of 7.5 percentage points.

What about Islam? According to the survey, Muslims represent 0.6% of the population (about 3 million, which is at least half of the often reported estimate of 6-7 million). About 40% of U.S. Muslims are converts, while 60% were raised or born as Muslims. Less than 0.3% enters Islam and an equal percentage leave Islam. That last number is very alarming.

Although Muslims in the U.S. are still increasing in numbers because of higher birth rates (second only to Mormons), immigration and conversion, and not losing numbers (as the case of Catholics, Baptists, or Methodists), it looks as though there is a percentage of people who are leaving Islam to other religions, not only among the new converts, but also those who where "born or raised Muslims."

Many Muslims believe or would like to believe that Muslims are somehow immune from changing their religion, and if you were born to Muslim parents or converted to Islam, then it is very unlikely to change religions. That might be the case, with God's guidance and protection, for those who were raised with strong Islamic identity, those who balance a strong belief in the pristine message of Islam, a strong understanding of its teachings and a consistent practice of its rituals, and for those who find in Islam the solutions to their spiritual, social and global problems.

However, a few famous anecdotes, and some of the evangelical claims that are difficult to confirm, make the picture less rosy, especially after 9/11 and the famously phrased "War on Terrorism."

History tells us that Muslims are not immune from conversion to other religions during the time of political, economic, social, or military pressure or upheavals. Muslims in Spain become extinct following the Reconquista and Inquisition that followed by the Catholic Church. Hundreds of thousands of Spanish Muslims and Moriscos were forcefully converted to Catholicism, killed or expelled from their homes. Similar outcomes faced Muslims of the Philippines in the Sultanate of Manila, China, East Africa, West Africa, Soviet Union, and now in Sudan, Nigeria, and Muslim minorities in Europe. Some experts argue that current hot areas in the Muslim world, like Darfur and Iraq, are fertile ground for Christian missionary activities where vulnerable Muslims are finding themselves between a rock and a hard place, and sometimes are faced with the choice of adopting a new religion for survival.

The findings of the PEW study should compel us to reconsider the ways we raise our children, how to provide them with strong and balanced Islamic identity, and how to protect their faith in the very competitive landscape of American religions.

We are certain that Islam is the only religion that can address and provide solutions to the complicated social and spiritual crises humanity is facing, including racism, poverty, materialism, exploitation of resources, and more. It is the religion that satisfies the soul and mind and does not conflict with reason or science. It is imperative that we make our homes, our Mosques, our schools, and other institutions the right environment for nurturing Islam in our children and youth and make it relevant to their lives in this land. It is vital for our future to open our doors to our neighbors and make our Mosques, sermons, and programs more attractive and less ethnocentric, more welcoming to all Muslims, especially new Muslims who need well-reasoned answers, measured and relevant teachings, guidance, comfort, solace, and above all, friendship, brotherhood, and sisterhood.

If we succeed in this transformation, then we can look forward to a broader and more meaningful role for Muslims in this land.

The full study titles are: PEW Forum on Religion and Public Life on Religious Landscape in the US. If interested, you may visit PEW's Website.

Dr. M. Zaher Sahloul