In his much awaited speech today, Obama said:
Actually, it's between one and two million Muslims in America, in all but the most self-serving estimates by Muslim organizations. The Trinity American Religious Identification Survey--54,000 respondents surveyed in 2008--has Muslims at .6 percent of the adult population, equal to 1,349,000 souls.
Much has been made of the fact that an African-American with the name Barack Hussein Obama could be elected President. But my personal story is not so unique. The dream of opportunity for all people has not come true for everyone in America, but its promise exists for all who come to our shores - that includes nearly seven million American Muslims in our country today who enjoy incomes and education that are higher than average.
Where do you think Obama got these numbers, or do you think that he simply made them up?
Whoever posted the query: It was an estimate made, oh, a decade ago by one of the Muslim advocacy organizations, arrived at by multiplying the number of mosques in the country by an estimated number of attendees, and adding 1 million on top, as an estimate of non-attending Muslims. So the number's been floating around, but it's not based on an actually survey of individuals.