A growing number of Latinos in the United States are leaving the Catholic Church in favor of Islam, according to USA Today.
Such Muslim Latino communities are at their largest “in mostly urban areas like New York City, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Houston,” and 56 percent of Latino Muslims are converts from Catholicism. This marks a significant shift away from Catholicism being the dominant religion among Latinos, with 57 percent describing themselves as Catholic ten years ago; now that number is down to 47 percent.
In the report, numerous such converts are interviewed and give a variety of reasons for their decision, including Islam supposedly having “a simplicity in faith and focus on community,” as well as the perception that Islam “focused on prayers to God alone, and not God and Jesus or saints.” Some also claim there to be a kinship because “Latinos and Muslims alike feel targeted” by the strict immigration policies of President Donald Trump.