Many Americans know little about Islam, Mormonism

DALLAS (Reuters) - More than half of Americans feel they know very little about Islam and Mormonism despite growing visibility for the religions in U.S. society, a survey released on Tuesday found.

The August survey by the Pew Research Center of around 3,000 U.S. adults found that most Americans professed to know little about either faith and only slim majorities viewed Mormons and Muslim Americans in a favorable light. The survey looked at Americans' views about a range of religions.

It also found that white evangelical Protestants who attend church regularly held especially dim views of the Mormon faith, a factor which could hurt the prospects of Republican presidential contender and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is a Mormon and must woo this vital constituency in his party.

"There are some interesting similarities in the way the public views both Muslims and Mormons but they are also very different," said Pew Research Center Director Scott Keeter.

"One of the things that is troubling is the public does not assess its own level of knowledge about Islam for instance any better than it did a few years ago," he told Reuters by phone.

The report notes that knowledge of both religions remains hazy, with 58 percent of those surveyed saying they know little or nothing about Islam's practices and 51 percent saying the same about the Mormon religion, which is officially known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

An identical 53 percent of those surveyed viewed Mormons and Muslim Americans in a favorable light, but only 43 percent said they had a favorable opinion of Muslims more broadly.

"The public views of Islam have not grown more favorable since we last asked about this in 2005," said Keeter.

DETAILED VIEWS

Among the survey's other main findings:

- The percentage of those surveyed who said Islam encourages violence rose to 45 percent in this survey compared to 36 percent in July 2005. And 70 percent of non-Muslims said that the Islamic faith was very different from their own compared to 59 percent two years ago.

- A slim majority of the U.S. public, or 52 percent, say that Mormonism is a Christian religion. But among white evangelicals who attend church at least once a week, 52 percent say that the Mormon religion is not Christian.

- Among white evangelical Protestants, 39 percent have an unfavorable view of Mormons.

- When asked for the single word that best describes their impression of Islam, devout and fanatical topped the list.

- For Mormons, the words polygamy/bigamy topped the list followed very closely by family and family values.

The taking of multiple wives has been banned by the mainstream Mormon faith But it was practiced by the church's early founders and polygamy is still followed by splinter sects who have captured much of the public's attention.

U.S. polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs was convicted on Tuesday of being an accomplice to rape for arranging a marriage between an unwilling 14-year-old girl and her cousin.