Kimball, a Baptist minister has some interesting comments on Jimmy Carter.  Kimball says Carter was seeking to keep Israel from resettling in areas set aside for Muslim and Christian families who have lived there for thousands of years. The Oslo Conference agreed to certain borders that set up border restrictions to occupation by Jews moving to the country. Kimball thinks Carter was "assailed relentlessly as anti-Israel or anti-Semitic".  Kimball also noted that congressmen who dare go against Israel have been targeted by voter drives to unseat them.  The O.U. professor notes that pro-Israel political action committees often target these politicians.  Kimball is one of the few authors I have noted who dares to take on the Zionist movement and the problems it causes American foreign policy.  He does note that Christian Zionism is ten times larger than the Jewish version. Both Christian and Jewish Zionism are given credit for inflaming the volatile atmosphere in the Middle East.  They are prime examples of when religion becomes lethal.  As a college student Charles was engrossed in Hal Lindsey's popular end of times best seller.  As an expert on the Middle East the professor notes the dangers the end of times prophets pose for the world.  He writes, "I am keenly aware that this fast-forward predictive approach to biblical prophecy can have serious and sometimes deadly political consequences." Pg. 22  The lethal connection between the religious right and Israel helps promote consequences for the nation and its foreign policy.  Carter got caught in the middle of this as a peace maker. Kimball does note that most Jewish leaders are not Zionist and respect attempts at peaceful borders.
     Kimball claims Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have both noted the cruel and unfair practices of Israel against non Jewish citizens rooted in ancient beliefs that God gave the land to Israel because of the covenant with Abraham and King David. When the Presbyterian Church in America funded a study committee to investigate this subject Jewish organizations were outraged and claimed the report was one- sided and distorted as well as insulting.   The story of Baruch Goldstein was a revelation to me.  Dr. Goldstein, an American medical doctor, was a Jew living in a Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba.  He entered a mosque disguised as an Israeli soldier and opened fire with an automatic weapon in 1994, killing 29 and wounding many more before being killed.  Goldstein became a martyr and hero with 10,000 people visiting his grave in six years.
     The writer says that Israel supporters are well aware of people like Jon Hagee and his peculiar views yet support for Israel.  Kimball quotes sources who say Jewish leaders keep Hagee on a short leash and put up with his antics.  One point of difference I had with Kimball was his claim that religious hatred combined with politics to cause the Holocaust.  I tend to view the event as political, and racial with little religious backing in Germany.  The book does note that almost 95% of Islamic suicide bombers do so for political not religious reasons.
     The book has a great deal of information on Islam.  Kimball writes that Muslims see the moral decay of the West as the most alarming cultural problem that is least admirable.  He notes that of the Muslim global population about 7% are classified as "politically radicalized".  This amounts to around 90 million adherents to this potentially volatile viewpoint.  The work notes that many Muslims in America have spoken out against the 9/11 terrorist attack. The author believes the vast majority of Muslims in the country are peaceful and supportive of democracy.  He makes the claim that this is true for most Muslims around the world.  I have found estimates that there are around 30,000 Christian Identity adherents in the nation. This sum makes them small by comparison to the potential number of Islamic terrorists around the world.  The comparison to the small number of Jewish extremists like Dr. Goldstein tends to dwarf the potential problems of religious extremism.  
     Dr. Kimball notes that when Muslims fought against the U.S.S.R. with out support, we labeled them "freedom fighters".  However, when Muslims revolted against the shah in Iran we named them extremists, fanatics or terrorists.  As a nation we tend to label our religious fanatics by the national interest they represent.  It is the old saying, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."  The foreign policy expert reminds us that we supported Saddam Hussein in Iraq and the mujahideen in Afghanistan at one time. He also notes we did not understand the religious traditions in Iraq when we invaded the nation. He predicted the evident problems that the toppling of the dictator would bring with it.  Kimball notes that Hussein did provide some religious freedom in the land and Christians and Jews lived in Iraq during his reign under relative prosperity.  Our invasion led to religious persecution and the loss of religious liberty.  
    Southern Baptist leader Albert Mohler is taken to task for his press conferences after the end of the invasion of Iraq.  Mohler, outspoken president of Southern Seminary got on the radio wanting to send Baptist missionaries into the war-torn land.  The foreign policy expert warned that such a move would be like lighting a match in a room full of explosives.  Kimball noted that he as well as all the Middle East experts he knew opposed the march to war in Iraq.
    The Baptist minister's hope for the world is his view that the model of separation of church and state in the nation can be exported to the rest of civilization.  He stated more than once; "have often said that religion and politics are always connected, that there is no fixed template for their interaction, and that the dynamic relationship has always been a work in progress set in its time and place."  Pg. 188   Finding this template for the relationship is the prospect Kimball holds for the Western World.  If it is not found, he fears the potential problems will continue to remain among us. When religion becomes mixed with weapons of mass destruction, it can surely become lethal.