Undercover as Muslim in Prague (1 of 3)

Muslim population 'rising 10 times faster than rest of society' The Muslim population in Britain has grown by more than 500,000 to 2.4 million in just four years, according to official research collated for The Times... The population multiplied 10 times faster than the rest of society, the research by the Office for National Statistics reveals. In the same period the number of Christians in the country fell by more than 2 million. Muslim leaders have welcomed the growing population of their communities as academics highlighted the implications for British society, integration and government resources... Professor Coleman said that Muslims would naturally reap collective benefits from the increase in population. In the growth of any population ... [its] voice is regarded as being stronger in terms of formulating policy, not least because we live in a democracy where most people in most religious groups and most racial groups have votes. That necessarily means their opinions have to be taken and attention to be paid to them. There are more than 42.6 million Christians in Britain, according to the Office for National Statistics, whose figures were obtained through the quarterly Labour Force Survey of around 53,000 homes. But while the biggest Christian population is among over-70s bracket, for Muslims it is the under-4s... Muhammad Abdul Bari, general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, predicted that the number of mosques in Britain would multiply from the present 1,600 in line with the rising Islamic population. He said the greater platform that Muslims would command in the future should not be perceived as a threat to the rest of society... The total number of Muslims in Great Britain: 2004: 1,870,000 2005: 2,017,000 2006: 2,142,000 2007: 2,327,000 2008: 2,422,000 Source: Labour Force Survey Source: timeonline http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5621482.ece