Study finds interfaith activity up in the last five years

Hartford, USA - Interfaith worship and community service has increased in the nearly five years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to a new survey.

About 22 percent of congregations reported participating in interfaith worship in the past year, compared to 7 percent in a Faith Communities Today 2000 Survey.

And nearly 38 percent of congregations reported participating in interfaith community service work, compared to 8 percent in the 2000 poll.

Faith Communities Today is a project of the Cooperative Congregational Studies Partnership at Hartford Seminary's Hartford Institute for Religion Research.

Minority faiths, such as Islam, are the most active in interfaith work, the survey found. David Roozen, director of the partnership and a professor at the seminary, said the survey shows that interfaith outreach has broadened beyond ecumenical Christian.

"The Sept. 11 upturn in interfaith awareness has been accompanied by a fundamental change in the United States' perception of the American religious mosaic," he said.

The Faith Communities Today 2000 survey randomly sampled about 14,300 congregations. The 2005 follow-up randomly sampled 884 congregations.