A nasty dispute recently broke out about the number of Muslims
in the United States. One study (available online in pdf format)
claims six to seven million. Funded by four Muslim organization
and directed by Ishan Bagby of Shaw University, it counted
Muslims by contacting mosques and using various assumptions. The
American Religious Identification Survey conducted by Barry
Kosmin and Egon Mayer through the City University of New York
Graduate Center found at most three million Muslims using a
telephone survey. About one-quarter of all Muslims make New York
State their home, according to Kosmin and Mayer Kosmin is one of
the leading students of religious demography, and is co-author
of "One Nation Under God," based upon a similar study done 10
years ago. The American Jewish Committee commissioned Tom Smith
to assess the available estimates and make one of his own. His
independent estimate largely agrees with that of the CUNY
Graduate Center team. Who is right? Why is it so difficult to
count the number of Musl