Liam Neeson and Islam: Conversions Among Westerners Increasing

"There are 4,000 mosques in the city. Some are just stunning and it really makes me think about becoming a Muslim."

He added: "I was reared a Catholic but I think every day we ask ourselves, not consciously, what are we doing on this planet? What's it all about? I'm constantly reading books on God or the absence of God and atheism."

There are many reasons why a Western Christian might convert to Islam – some because they want to marry a Muslim person and wish to make such a union easier; others because they have a spiritual beckoning towards Islam.

Neeson would appear to be part of the latter group.

Should he embrace Islam, he would not be alone.

According to Faith Matters, a multi-faith organization in Great Britain, there are now in excess of 100,000 Muslim converts in the United Kingdom -- having doubled in just a decade -- with more than 5,200 adopting the faith in 2010.

Moreover, the average Muslim convert in the U.K. is described as a “27-year-old white woman” -- quite surprising, given the widely held notion that Islam is "oppressive" to women.

“Converts do not represent a devious fifth column determined to undermine the Western way of life – this is a group of normal people united in their adherence to a religion which they, for the most part, see as perfectly compatible with Western life,” Faith Matters said.

The survey suggested that many British converts are appalled by the immorality and vulgarity of modern society, including alcohol and drunkenness, and a "lack of morality and sexual permissiveness" and "unrestrained consumerism."