Two Big Problems

When the USS Truman deploys to the Persian Gulf it will be the only carrier, if not ship, in the US Navy that is carrying a Torah. According to a web site:
: See: http://www.israelforum.com/blog_article.php?aid=947031

"NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - A Torah scroll rescued from Lithuania has a new home aboard the United States Navy aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman. Commanding Officer, Capt. Herman Shelanski, left, and Michigan Senator Carl Levin (D), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, bow their heads in prayer at the commencement of the Torah dedication ceremony in the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier's hangar bay. The holy Jewish Torah in the background, one of the few scrolls from Lithuania to survive the Holocaust, was presented to Truman by the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, and will be on loan to Truman and displayed for 41 years, or the duration of the ship's life." It was also reported the Senator Carl Levin , chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he found Truman's namesake carrier to be a fitting home for a Torah that would help service members "grow in their appreciation of our Jewish faith."

TWO PROBLEMS

First, isn't there a separation of Church and State issue for a Naval war ship to have a Torah on it? I assume Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore who lost his job for defying a federal court order to move a Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the Alabama Supreme Court building would find this ironic. It makes me wonder if the Ten Commandments are on display on any naval ship? And what would be the reaction if Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions dedicated a cross to be displayed on a Navy ship and he said, "this will help the service members grow in their appreciation of our Christian faith."

Second, aren't we doing exactly what we shouldn't be doing. With the Muslims having been incensed by our actions at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib why are we giving them another reason to stoke up animosity against us. By having planes take off from the one carrier that is carrying a Torah to bomb the Muslim nations will be easily turned to an attack by a Jewish ship upon those nations. Do we really need this?