A reader says something fascinating:

The things you have been writing about lately on your blog made me realize something today. My daughter, a high schooler, is spending a good part of her summer off at college. It’s not really college, but a program for gifted & talented kids administered by [name of secular university]. When I moved her into the dorm, I was startled to see that the RA on her hall was a Muslim woman wearing a hijab. She was very polite. I liked her right away, but I have to confess that as a conservative Christian from a non-diverse part of the country, it made me nervous to think about my Christian daughter in the care of a Muslim woman, even a Muslim woman that was really nice.

Now I have come to be so grateful for that Muslim RA, and I want to tell you why. In hearing from my daughter about what the other kids are like at that summer program, and the things they talk about and believe, I am comforted that there is at least someone in her dorm who shares her belief in God, and in moral sanity. My daughter is not having a bad time at all, and I’m not worried about her. If things do go south in some way, or if she has questions or concerns, it is a relief to know that the woman in charge of her residence hall is someone whose moral instincts I can trust. I had to write to tell you about this revelation, and how it made me confront my prejudice. I never imagined that I would be living in a world where as a conservative Christian in America, I am surprised to discover that when it comes to the care and raising of our children, I have more in common with believing Muslims than I do with seculars who look like me. On the other hand, I never imagined I would be living in a nation that has lost its sense of right and wrong. How weird it is to think about my minor daughter far away from home, in an “in loco parentis” situation, and to be able to say as a Christian parent, and mean it, “Thank God for that Muslim.”

That’s really interesting, and I completely agree with this reader. This note brought to mind a 2012 story The New York Times did about Muslim students from abroad choosing US Catholic colleges. Excerpt:

The flow of students from the Muslim world into American colleges and universities has grown sharply in recent years, and women, though still far outnumbered by men, account for a rising share.

No definitive figures are available, but interviews with students and administrators at several Catholic institutions indicate an even faster rate of growth there, with the Muslim student population generally doubling over the past decade, and the number of Muslim women tripling or more.

At those schools, Muslim students, from the United States or abroad, say they prefer a place where talk of religious beliefs and adherence to a religious code are accepted and even encouraged, socially and academically. Correctly or not, many of them say they believe that they are more accepted than they would be at secular schools.

“I like the fact that there’s faith, even if it’s not my faith, and I feel my faith is respected,” said Maha Haroon, a pre-med undergraduate at Creighton University in Omaha, who was born in Pakistan and grew up in the United States. “I don’t have to leave my faith at home when I come to school.”

She and her twin sister, Zoha, said they chose Creighton based in part on features rooted in its religious identity, like community service requirements and theology classes that shed light on how different faiths approach ethical issues.

Many Muslim students, particularly women, say they based their college choices partly on the idea that Catholic schools would be less permissive than others in the United States, though the behavior they say they witness later can call that into question.

They like the prevalence of single-sex floors in dorms, and even single-sex dorms at some schools. “I thought it would be a better fit for me, more traditional, a little more conservative,” said Shameela Idrees, a Pakistani undergraduate in business at Marymount University in Arlington, Va., who at first lived in an all-women dorm.

It is important to realize that not all Christian colleges really have a Christian ethos on campus. Still, it occurs to me that post-Christian America will likely bring about surprising practical alliances between small-o orthodox Christians and believing Muslims, in the same way that post-Sixties America facilitated practical alliances between conservative Evangelicals and conservative Catholics.

Who will be the Chuck Colson and Richard John Neuhaus of the Christian-Muslim rapprochement? What I mean is, which Christian and Muslim leaders have the status and the vision to bring small-o orthodox Christians and believing Muslims together to stand side by side in the public square on social issues of mutual concern? I’m not talking about goo-goo ecumenism that ignores meaningful differences. I’m talking about what came to be known (in Colson’s phrase) as the “ecumenism of the trenches” — a practical coalition of divergent believers who will not yield on theological distinctives, but who recognize a certain theological commonality and need to work together on public issues of mutual concern.

What would need to happen for this to work on a broader level than just episodic situations like a college dorm? Me, I would need to be confident that the American Muslims with whom I was working were not part of a front group for the Muslim Brotherhood. I could imagine that Muslims would likely object to working with Evangelicals who were heavily involved in promoting Israel. Other obstacles are not hard to foresee. Nevertheless, I am more concerned today, in 2015, post-Indiana and post-Brendan Eich, with secularist threats to religious liberty and religious tolerance than I am with Islam in America — and if you’ve been reading me for a while, you know that’s a big shift for me.

Come to think of it, my son just left for a program like this on Sunday. If I discovered that he had a Muslim RA, I would find it comforting too, for the same reason as the reader. We truly are in a different world now. Kyle Smith called it the other day a “massive, silent cultural revolution,” these changes that have washed over American society in the last ten to twenty years. Now we orthodox Christians and believing Muslims find ourselves on the same side of some key issues, whether we want to be or not — and whether we like each other or not. We had better start getting to know one another a lot better. And we had all better figure out a way to draw closer to Orthodox Jews, and they to us. What is happening in the Middle East among Christians, Muslims, and Jews is unspeakable, and heaven knows I don’t mean to diminish the suffering and sin there.

But we have to take the long view, and a practical view, or at least try hard to do so, through our anger and grief over the Middle East. We live in America, all of us traditional believers in the Abrahamic religions. We may find it hard to trust each other, or even to like each other sometimes. But I’m telling you, if we don’t find some way to stick together effectively in a new ecumenism of the trenches, and to help and defend each other whenever we can, our prospects for thriving in the emerging America are dimmer than they would otherwise be.

UPDATE: What do you know! Got a text from Matthew saying that his RA is, in fact, a Muslim man. That’s a relief.

UPDATE: Reader VikingLS reads the comments thread, then makes a good point:

This really is an interesting thread.

Conservative Christian: The Muslims have a weird violent religion and they are out to get us! Look at Syria!

Liberal: That’s hysterical and xenophobic. All religions call on the same spirit, and if you weren’t so hung up on dogma you’d see that. Anyway, Islam has a long history of tolerance, particularly compared to you Christians. We could learn a lot from them.

…

Conservative Christian : I met some Muslims. We have a lot in common with them. You know, In some ways I feel more comfortable with the than liberals.

Liberal: Oh look at you! United in Homophobia! Islam is a weird alien religion that rejects everything you believe to be true! They’re out to get you you moron! Look at Syria! Stick to your own kind!”

It appears once again we’re damned if we do and we’re damned if we don’t.