In 2010, when Treene’s office argued in favor of Muslims seeking to build a mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Pat Robertson warned that they were threatening the religious liberty of Christians, who if the mosque was built might be required to participate in “public prayer five times a day.”

In a way, it’s odd. American Muslims have a lot in common with Christian conservatives. According to a 2015 Pew Research Survey, they’re more likely than other Americans to affirm with complete certainty the existence of God and to pray every day. They are less likely to believe in evolution, less likely to believe that society benefits when women work outside the home and less likely to support same-sex marriage or abortion rights. In their religious devotion and attitudes toward gender and sexuality, American Muslims resemble evangelical Christians and traditional Catholics far more than they resemble secular progressives.

Moreover, they have in recent years faced mounting threats to their religious liberty at exactly the moment that religious liberty has become a Christian conservative preoccupation. Given these realities, one might think Treene would be a hero on the Christian right. Instead, he’s closer to a pariah. In their hour of need, American Muslims are finding that the people who might have been their staunchest defenders are among fiercest adversaries instead.

It wasn’t always this way. During George W. Bush’s presidency, Christian conservatives often described Muslims as ideological allies. When Bush launched his presidential campaign, Muslim activists asked him to include their community when he spoke on behalf of religious liberty. And Bush did. He denounced the Clinton administration for “profiling” Arab and Muslims and detaining them based on secret evidence. In 2000, the GOP became the first major party in American history to feature a Muslim prayer at its convention. Karl Rove invited Muslim clerics to the White House as part of his faith-based initiative.

After 9/11, some prominent evangelicals denounced Islam. But overall, a review of responses to the attacks noted that the Christian right is “refusing to vilify Islam after September 11 and remains committed to an alliance of ‘orthodox believers.’” In 2002, after evangelical and Catholic NGOs partnered with Muslim governments to resist the inclusion of pro-choice and pro-gay rights language in United Nations declarations, Austin Ruse, head of the conservative Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, gave a speech entitled “I’d Rather There be Muslims in My Foxhole.” In 2004, Pat Buchanan noted than on issues like “the morality of homosexual unions and stem cell research … conservative Americans have more in common with devout Muslims than with liberal Democrats.” And in 2007, Dinesh D’Souza wrote an entire book based on that premise. “By resisting the depravity of the left and the Europeans,” he argued, “conservatives can win friends among Muslims and other traditional people around the world.”