Hate Crime Call After Cross Placed at US Air Force Pagan Site

(Fox News) – An investigation is under way after a large wooden cross was placed at a U.S. Air Force Academy worship area for pagans and other Earth-centered religions in Colorado Springs, Fox News reported Thursday.

An Academy staffer spotted the cross - erected with railroad ties - lying against a rock in the area on January 17.

Tech. Sgt. Brandon Longcrier, a self-described pagan who sponsors the group that worships there, said he and others were the victims of a hate crime.

He explained that the act was similar to someone leaving a pentagram or a pagan symbol at the academy's chapel altar.

In an email to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, Longcrier said his group had been "thrown under the bus by the system we trusted" and that the "hate crime" had been ignored.

David Cannon, director of communications at the Air Force Academy, said the incident remains under investigation.

He declined to indicate whether it could be classified as a hate crime until after the probe was completed.

Cannon said that if a cadet were behind the incident, the Air Force would have the power to prosecute.

If a civilian did it, the case could be taken up by local authorities.

In a statement issued Wednesday, Lt. Gen. Mike Gould, the Academy's superintendent, said the school will take "appropriate action" if a cadet were indeed responsible.

"Our message is simple: we are taking this incident very seriously and conducting an inquiry," he said.

"We absolutely do not stand for any type of destructive behavior or disrespect for human dignity."

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2C2933%2C584886%2C00.html