500 churches closed, 400 mosques opened in London since 2001

Moscow, April 11, 2017

Thousands of Muslims participate in a public outdoor prayer service in Birmingham, England, on July 6, 2016. Photo: RT video screenshot.

500 Churches of all denominations have been converted into private homes in London since 2001, while 423 new mosques have appeared in that time, often in converted church buildings, according to the not-for-profit international policy council and think tank Gatestone Institute.

“London is more Islamic than many Muslim countries put together,” according to Maulana Syed Raza Rizvi, one of London’s leading Islamic clerics. The number of English identifying as Anglicans dropped by 1.7 million, from 21 to 17% between 2012 and 2014, while the number of Muslims grew by nearly a million, with converts often embracing the violence of Islam.

Estimates state that by 2020 the number of Muslims attending prayers will be at least 683,000, while the number of Christians attending weekly Mass will drop to 679,000. Nearly half of British Muslims are under 25, while a quarter of the nation’s Christians are over 65. “In another twenty years there are going to be more active Muslims than there are churchgoers,” said Keith Porteous Wood, director of the National Secular Society. At the current rate of decline, within one generation there will be three times more Muslims attending Friday prayer than churchgoers.

A 2015 analysis showed the most popular name in England to be Mohammed, or a variation thereof.

While Muslims are rapidly filling England, with large populations in all major cities, including Manchester (15.8%), Birmingham (21.8%) and Bradford (24.7%), a Knowledge Center survey showed that one third of UK Muslims do not feel “part of British culture,” which could help to explain London’s 100 sharia courts. Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Chief Justice Lord Philipps have proposed that British law begin to incorporate elements of sharia law.

“Muslims do not need to become the majority in the UK; they just need gradually to Islamize the most important cities. The change is already taking place,” the institute writes.