The reading from the Book of Isaiah encourages us to “seek the Lord while he may be found, call him while he is near,” while the psalmist makes this worshipful pledge: “Every day will I bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever” and asserts that “the Lord is near to all who call upon him.” If there is a silver lining to the destruction that occurred ten years ago on 9/11, it might be this: Interfaith worship has doubled in the U.S. in the past decade, according to a new study.

Although more than seven in 10 U.S. congregations still do not associate with other faiths, the survey by an interfaith group of researchers found that about 14 percent of U.S. congregations in 2010 engaged in a joint religious celebration with another faith tradition, up from 6.8 percent in 2000.

Interfaith community service grew nearly threefold, with 20.4 percent of congregations reporting participation in 2010, up from 7.7 percent in 2000, according to the Cooperative Congregations Studies Partnership.

After the 9/11 attacks, “Islam and Islamics’ presence in the United States [became] visible in a way that you couldn’t ignore,” said David A. Roozen, one of the report’s authors and the director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut.

National Muslim groups tried to build bridges to other faiths, who in turn “reached out in new ways to be neighborly,” Roozen said. Reform Jewish congregations led the way, with two-thirds participating in interfaith worship and three-quarters involved in interfaith community service.

Sources: Articles by Piet Levy for Religion News Service and Ecumenical News International