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Cross found at academy pagan worship site

An Air Force Academy staffer who helped build a worship area for pagans and other Earth-centered religions says he and others are the victims of a hate crime because someone placed a wooden cross at their site.

Tech. Sgt. Brandon Longcrier, a self-described pagan who sponsors the group that worships at the site, said the incident was akin to someone leaving a pentacle or a pagan symbol at the Cadet Chapel's altar. The cross, made out of railroad ties, was found Jan. 17 at the worship site.

Longcrier accused academy officials of not taking the group's complaint seriously, telling the Military Religious Freedom Foundation in an e-mail that "we have been thrown under the bus by the system we trusted, and the hate crime against us has been ignored."

Academy officials warned cadets such behavior would not be tolerated.

In a statement released Feb. 3, academy superintendent Lt. Gen. Michael Gould said an investigation was ongoing and “appropriate action” will be taken against those responsible. It’s not clear whether the act was malicious or whether academy personnel were involved, Gould said.

“We absolutely do not stand for any type of destructive behavior or disrespect for human dignity,” Gould said in the statement. “Cadets learn that every service member is charged with defending freedom for all Americans and that includes the freedom to practice a religion of their choice or to not practice any religion at all.”

Mikey Weinstein, president of the MRFF and a 1977 academy graduate, characterized the academy’s response as delayed and tepid. He wondered why it took the academy more than two weeks to inform cadets of the incident and said the academy leaders finally spoke out about the incident only after his foundation contacted Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz’s office. Longcrier had requested that the MRFF get involved on his group’s behalf, Weinstein said.

Weinstein said Longcrier had not been interviewed about the incident by Air Force investigators as of Feb. 2.

Weinstein said the incident has been “trivialized” and said if a Protestant, Catholic or Jewish worship area had been targeted the response would’ve been more timely and aggressive.

“We’re very dispirited; we’re very disappointed,” Weinstein said. “I’m confused and struggling with where our relationship is (with the academy).”

The worship area, created last year, consists of a double circle of stones atop a hill on the campus. The academy also has worship areas for Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims and Buddhists.

According to Longcrier, earth-centered spirituality includes traditions such as Wicca and Druidism. Wicca is the largest religious group in the Air Force after Christianity.

Related reading

* Academy statement on the incident

* Pagans get worship space at academy