Onward Pagan Soldiers

COLORADO SPRINGS -- The U.S. Air Force Academy, viewed in recent years as a deplorable example of religious intolerance, is now accommodating witches, warlocks, druids, and other worshipers of "Earth-centered" religions. A stone circle has been allowed on a hill somewhere on the academy's vast military grounds in the Colorado Springs area.

Tech. Sgt. Brandon Longcrier, a pagan, worked to convince academy officials to allow the space. "When I first arrived here, Earth-centered cadets didn't have anywhere to call home," he said in a news release. "Now, they meet every Monday night, they get to go on retreats, and they have a stone circle."

He added that the academy hasn't stood in the way of the idea and that the chaplain's office has been "100 percent" supportive.

 

The academy, which already provides space for major religions, is known for its Cadet Chapel -- an artistic and military statement where Christians gather for services.

But allegations that evangelical officers to openly proselytized and pressured cadets of to follow Christ have plagued the academy in recent years, giving it a reputation in some circles of being against religious diversity. In 2005, Mikey Weinstein, a graduate of the academy, sued the Air Force, alleging that the academy was insensitive to Jewish cadets, including his son, condoning proselytization by evangelical Christian officers. That year, the Air Force issued new guidelines pledging to "accommodate free exercise of religion and other personal beliefs." As for the lawsuit, it was tossed out by a federal judge.

Worship circles like the one expected to be dedicated in March at the academy date to prehistoric days. One of the most famed circles sits steeped in mystery at Stonehenge in England. There are also circles at other sites around the world, including several American Indian sites, like the Bighorn Medicine Wheel, north of Colorado in Wyoming.

There is even a worship circle at Fort Hood, Texas, established by the Sacred Well Congregation in 1999. The site was vandalized several times after its creation.

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Image: Tech. Sgt. Robert Longcrier uses white sage to consecrate an Earth-centered worship area on the hill overlooking the Cadet Chapel and the Visitor Center at the Air Force Academy just after sunrise on the winter solstice, Dec. 21, 2009. The chapel is scheduled to officially designate the circle as a Pagan chapel during a dedication ceremony in March 2010. Sergeant Longcrier is the Earth-centered ley leader at the Academy. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Don Branum)

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