COLORADO SPRINGS — 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 was left at the pagan worship site more than two weeks ago.
Longcrier accused academy officials of not taking the group’s complaint seriously. Academy officials said they’ve been talking to cadets and faculty and that on Wednesday, they condemned the incident, warning cadets the behavior would not be tolerated.
