It could have been any one of a dozen Saturday night church basement suppers I have been to over the years. Metal folding chairs on a linoleum floor. Long rolls of white paper for tablecloths. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and peas served on paper plates.

When I arrived, one of two hundred invited guests, the church members were standing nervously in small groups. Leaders whispered encouragement for them to greet us and start conversations or direct us to literature-laden tables where we could select free tracts-or a copy of the Quran.

There were other differences between this and other evangelism suppers. The banners on the wall read "Allah be praised" instead of "Jesus Saves." After dinner, the program featured not reformed drug addicts telling how Jesus had turned their lives around, but Chicago suburbanites relating mind-opening experiences with one of the world's fastest growing religions, Islam.

Actually, I wasn't an entirely naive attendee of the dinner. While doing research for ...