How many mosques, how many Muslims?

In USA Today, religion reporter Cathy Lynn Grossman takes a look at a new effort to count mosques in the United States, and the complications and controversy associated with trying to enumerate religious populations in a country where the census is barred from asking such questions. An excerpt:

"For minority religious groups, particularly Muslims and Jews, higher numbers can mean enhanced social and political clout in the U.S. public square. On the campaign trail, will a politician stop by a synagogue or a mosque? When members of Congress vote on Middle Eastern policy, which home state constituency has more influence? When the school board sets next year's vacation calendar, whose holy days are recognized? 'Numbers are a major factor in being marginalized or being recognized by decision-makers in public policy,' says Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council for American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights and advocacy group and a sponsor of this second mosque census."

(Photo above, by Justine Hunt of the Globe staff, shows a mosque under construction in Boston in July 2006.)