American Muslims are growing more religiously and socially liberal, with the number who say society should accept homosexuality nearly doubling during the past decade, according to a major new survey. American Muslims are also more likely to identify as political liberals and believe there are multiple ways to interpret the teachings of Islam, the survey found.

Conducted by the Pew Research Center, the survey of 1,001 American Muslims depicts a community in tumult, with the vast majority disapproving of President Donald Trump and worrying about the direction of the country. Even so, many remain hopeful about their future in the United States, the survey found, despite persistent anxiety about Islamic extremism and religious discrimination.

The wide-ranging survey, which was released on Wednesday, solicited opinions on everything from religious practices and politics to terrorism and social values. In addition, Pew found that the American Muslim population has been rising steadily for a decade, adding about 100,000 people per year. An estimated 3.35 million Muslims now live in the United States, just 1% of the overall population.

The survey interviews were conducted in English, as well as Arabic, Farsi and Urdu, between January 23 and May 2, 2017. The average margin of error is plus or minus 5.8 percentage points. Some of the study’s findings won’t surprise people paying attention during the acrimonious 2016 presidential election, in which Trump repeatedly cast suspicion on American Muslims. Of the 44% of American Muslims who voted in the election, nearly 8 in 10 voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton. Just 8% voted for Trump.

The survey, conducted in the days and months following Trump’s inauguration, portrays a Muslim community still largely wary of the President. Nearly 7 in 10 say Trump makes them feel worried, and 45% say he makes them angry…That’s a stark contrast from 2011, when Barack Obama was President. Then, 64% of Muslim-Americans told Pew researchers that Obama was friendly toward Muslims and more than half were satisfied with the direction of the country. But the study’s most significant findings may be religious and social, not political.

In 2007, just 27% of American Muslims said society should approve of homosexuality. This year, more than half (52%) said the same, a leap that surprised even scholars who study Islam in America. Likewise, 10 years ago, 57% of American Muslims said there is more than one way to interpret Islamic teachings. In 2017, 64% agreed.

American Muslims were also slightly more likely to identify as politically liberal (30% now vs. 24% in 2007). Nearly two-thirds identify as Democrats and a similar number believe in a bigger government that provides a host of services.

Asked about the essentials of the faith, an overwhelming percentage of Muslims, like Christians, said believing in God was most important. But issues like working for social justice (69%) and protecting the environment (62%) also scored high in the list of essentials for American Muslims.

There’s some debate among scholars about whether American Muslims’ increasing liberalism on issues like homosexuality is the result of recent immigrants’ assimilation to mainstream American values or the rise of native-born millennials, who, like their non-Muslim peers, are more tolerant of the LGBT community.

But while millennial Muslims are more likely than foreign-born Muslims to say homosexuality should be accepted (60% vs. 49%), both groups saw an increase of more than 20 percentage points in the last decade, Pew found…

The study uncovered a significant gender gap in the way Muslim-American men and women perceive discrimination and the country’s direction. Muslim women are more likely than men to say it is harder to be a Muslim in the United States today (57% vs. 43%); much more likely to say Trump angers them (54% to 37%); and significantly less likely to believe that Americans are friendly towards Muslims (44% vs. 65%).

That’s probably because American Muslim women, particularly those who wear a hijab, are more readily recognized as Muslims and thus potentially subject to discrimination, experts said.

According to the Pew study, two-thirds of Muslim-Americans whose appearance is identifiably Muslim report experiences of discrimination, from a generalized sense of being treated with suspicion to being singled out by airport security to being attacked and called offensive names.

Read more at: CNN