Muslims most religious community in France: Study

A new opinion poll indicates that French Muslims are more adherent to their religious values, compared with other religious communities in France.

According to the survey conducted by the French Sociovision Institute and released on March 8, 68 percent of the French Muslims attach more importance to their religious values than to national values.
The survey, which was carried out in February among 1,800 French Muslim, Christian and Jewish adults, also indicates that 40 percent of the French Jews give priority to their religious beliefs, while 60 percent of them prefer national values.
Out of Christian respondents, 63 percent favored their national values and only 37 percent preferred religious beliefs.
A recent report by New York Times indicates that annual rate of conversion to Islam has doubled in France over the past 25 years.
Bernard Godard, an official in charge of religious issues at the French Interior Ministry, said around 100,000 out of an estimated six million Muslims in France are thought to be converts, compared with some 50,000 in 1986.
Experts say the increasing rate of conversion to Islam in France presents Paris with a growing challenge as the secular government holds awkward or sometimes hostile attitudes towards Muslims.