London, UK - More than a million Muslims have migrated to Britain because it is more sympathetic towards Islam than other European countries, a study has found.
Latent Islamophobia in Europe means that many of those who move to the continent eventually end up in Britain, because it is seen as more tolerant.
There are now some 1.1million Muslim immigrants in the UK, according to the report by IPPR, the Blairite think tank. It means around 46 per cent of Britain's 2.4million-strong Muslim population were not born in this country.
Meanwhile another study has found that Muslims in this country are the most patriotic in Europe: with more than three-quarters identifying themselves as British.
The report, funded by billionaire George Soros, found that just 49 per cent of French Muslims and 23 per cent of Germans identified with their home country.
However, the IPPR report concludes that the influx of different religions is having a massive affect on faith in Britain.
Some 4.5million of the UK's foreign-born population claim to have a religious affiliation. Of these, around a quarter are Muslim while more than half are Christian - with Polish Catholics and African Pentecostals among the fastest-growing groups.
While traditional churchgoing is on the decline in the UK over the past decade, the latest immigrants mean Christianity is becoming more charismatic and fundamentalist.
The figures are based on interviews carried out for the annual Labour Force Survey by the Office for National Statistics.
The IPPR report found that over the past decade, there has been an increase of 275,000 in the number of British residents born in Pakistan or Bangladesh - twice the population of Oxford.
The number of Somali-born residents has also shot up, from fewer than 40,000 in 1999 to 106,700 this year.
The report says that many of the new immigrants are migrating here after first settling in other European countries, where they are subject to 'latent homophobia'.
'Migration has caused an increase in the proportions of the population affiliated to non-Christian faiths,' the report concludes.
Catholicism has also seen a resurgence, thanks to the arrival of almost 600,000 from Poland, Lithuania and Slovakia; while there has also been a rise in evangelical churches which tend to have less liberal views on issues like homosexuality.
'Perhaps the most significant change has been the growth of Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity within migrant populations, particularly those from Africa and Latin America,' the report found.
'In Lewisham, there are 65 Pentecostal churches serving the Nigerian community, and others serving the Congolese, Ghanaian and Ivorian communities.'
Professor Mike Kenny of IPPR said: 'The research shows that recent waves of inward migration have given a boost to some of the UK's established faith communities at a time when Britain's society and culture are generally more secular, and smaller numbers of the indigenous population are regularly attending churches.
'Recent migration trends are altering the faith map of the UK. Their biggest impact is being felt in some of our largest cities: London above all, where a rich mosaic of different faith communities has come into being.'
Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch, said: 'The rapid rise in the Muslim population is just one way in which mass immigration promoted, even encouraged, by this Government has affected the whole nature of society.'
George Soros's report found that, while British Muslims are the most patriotic in Europe, more than a quarter in some parts of the country still do not feel British.
Levels of patriotism are higher among second-generation Muslims. In Leicester, 94 per cent of UK-born Muslims felt British, compared to 72 per cent of those born abroad.
Patriotic pride
The percentage of Muslims in each European city who identify with their country of residence:
- Leicester - 82.4%
- London - 72.0 %
- Amsterdam - 59.0 %
- Marseilles - 58.0%
- Antwerp - 55.1%
- Paris - 41.0%
- Stockholm - 41.0%
- Copenhagen - 39.6%
- Berlin - 25.0%
- Hamburg - 22.0%