Posted on 02/04/2010 7:58:42 PM PST by TaraP
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, February 4, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs has established a pagan circle in the woods on its campus with plans to dedicate it officially in March. However, the site has generated new controversy as Air Force staffers have revealed that a large wooden cross was found at the site, with some calling the placement of the cross a “hate crime.”
The population of self-styled pagans is a tiny percentage of the Academy’s 4,000 cadets. Tech. Sgt. Brandon Longcrier told the Associated Press that he has eight to ten cadets that regularly attend their weekly Monday meetings, of which six or seven he describes as devout pagans. An additional 15 – 20 cadets he described as interested.
Although neo-pagans claim to have a connection to the old pagan religions that once dominated Europe before the rise of Christianity, their revival did not begin until the Twentieth Century, especially in the post-World War II era. Wicca – the religion of modern witchcraft – took off in England in the 1950s following the repeal of witchcraft laws, before spreading to other parts of the English-speaking world. Neo-Druid organizations also began appearing at the same-time as the cultural upheavals of the sexual revolution were taking place in the Western world....
The Air Force Academy has defended its policy to make a place for witchcraft on its campus as an expression of its commitment to cadet’s freedom of religion. However, critics have replied that the move represents a further rejection of the United States’ Judeo-Christian heritage, and makes little sense given that the numbers of actual neo-pagans at the Academy is miniscule compared to other followers of non-Christian faiths, such as Islam.
But the fact that a large wooden cross was placed anonymously at the neo-pagan circle several weeks ago has provoked an uproar at the Academy. The pagan site features two concentric circles of large stones that were installed on a wooded hill within the campus. The circle has a tentative dedication date of March 10.
Air Force Academy officials – who do not yet know who placed the Christian symbol at the pagan site – have condemned the act, and are investigating the matter as a “hate crime.”
“I consider this no different than someone writing graffiti on the Cadet Chapel,” said Academy superintendent Lt. Gen. Mike Gould in a prepared statement.
Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and a 1977 Academy graduate, broke the story, saying one of his clients found the cross made of railroad ties at the site. He compared the presence of the cross at the pagan circle as the equivalent of a swastika in a Jewish center.
But Catholic League President Bill Donahue decried the reaction from Academy officials as “boilerplate” and stated that they were going way too far by treating the incident as “hate speech.” Donahue stated that if he found another religious symbol placed at a Catholic site, he would complain. However, Gould’s comparison of a “cross at a pagan site as the equivalent of graffiti on a church” struck him as offensive, since the Academy superintendent saw “no difference between neutering a religious symbol and defacing religious property.”
“This is more than overkill — it is grossly insulting to Catholics and Protestants,” said the Catholic civil rights leader. Instead of Wiccans and other neo-pagans experiencing persecution at the Academy, Donahue said that a 2005 Academy report revealed that Catholics and Protestants instead had reported experiencing religious intolerance.
“These remarks have added to the chilling atmosphere that Catholics and Protestants must endure,” said Donahue. He added that he was going to take the matter to the members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committee, just as he had done in 2005.
“We need to know why hypersensitivity to non-Christians has evolved into insensitivity to Christians.”
No I don’t...
If I saw a Wicca symbol in my church..I would ask if this belonged to anyone, if they did not come to claim it, I would throw it in the garbage.......
Would that be a Hate Crime?
This has been going on for years. Twenty years ago I had some prisoners (coke) who were into this. From what I see It is childish.
My family visited the AFA two summers ago. The chapel itself accomodates Protestant, RC, and Jewish services, as well as space for Islam, I think. The synagogue is breathtakingly beautiful, as is the whole structure. Maybe the Wiccans didn't want space there because their little spells wouldn't work. All that holy God mojo and all.....
Most Wiccans don't do "spells". More likely they preferred an outdoor space because Wicca is about nature-worship, and nature makes a better setting for that type of worship than a human-built structure.
well stated
Do you happen to know what a rhetorical question is? But thanks for confirming my worst fears.
Are you really, seriously going to claim that the service academy for the United States Air Force is a Christian founded school? Seriously?
If someone steals something from your house that you didn't care about, is it still theft?
Of course it would still be considered an attempt to impose upon your fundamental right to worship. Just because it wouldn't bother you, personally, doesn't mean diddly.
No... it's because Wiccans don't believe in any need for a building, and in fact, believe that one cannot properly worship inside a building.
Either Jesus Christ is the ONLY WAY...or he lied...
John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life ...no man comes to the Father, but by me....
I had a “liberal Christian” tell me concerning Jn 14:6 that “He didn’t mean it that way, you’re misinterpreting it.” Not much leaway for “misinterpretation” there.
And, another example: Christ Himself begged the Father when He was praying in Gethsemane - if there is ANY other way, please take this (torture and crucifixion) from Me. I guess, if there are “many ways to God”, that God was just being cruel to His only Son by making Him go through with it.
That is, until you disagree with their vision of Christianity. Then it's all about making this country a theocracy in their vision.
Here’s a little story that might make this all make more sense to everyone.
There was once a great and mighty country founded by people who believed (with good reason) that Twinkies are divine. In the early years of the nation, probably 80% of the citizens worshipped Twinkies — but there were always a significant percentage of people who worshipped Pop Tarts, some who worshipped Doritos, and a few who worshipped nothing at all. They were all accepted and given equal protection under the law.
A couple hundred years later, all these various snack food worshippers were, for the most part, happily coexisting. Most people still worshipped Twinkies, and some Pop Tarts, and some Doritos... but not you. No, you worship Oreos. You disagree with the Twinkie, Pop Tart, and Dorito worshippers about what you worship, but you all agreed on one thing: You love this country you all grew up in — partly because your country guaranteed that you could worship whatever snack food you wanted.
So when you were old enough, you and ten of your friends decided to join the country’s military, sworn to defend the very rulebook that guaranteed everyone the right to worship whatever junk food they wanted.
So you, Oreo worshipper, asked for a simple accomodation - a box of Oreos, in an out-of-the-way corner where it wouldn’t bother anybody else. The military agrees and then gives you one.
Then, the next day, you come in and find your little corner littered with Twinkie, Dorito, and Pop Tart wrappers. But... how could this be? Didn’t the rulebook that you swore to defend guarantee that everyone could worship what they believe? Even you, the Oreo worshipper?
Are you starting to understand why this is a big deal now?
At least it wasn’t a burning cross.
I'm a Christian and a Constitutionalist....and I'll fight with every breath I have to stop ANYONE from turning this country into a theocracy.
The wafer and wine became His precious body and blood during the Eucharistic Prayer - it's called Transubstantiation.
How do you define “theocracy”?
The left defines an American theocracy as basing our laws on Christian principles and God’s law of the bible. Do you?
Because that’s the way laws used to be written and/or justified in our country - “has the divine ruled on this topic?” - if so, then no law of man may override that.
Face it, our country WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL OTHERWISE, based on any other value system.
You are suborning your own argument. And you second paragraph is silly.
On the other hand why is there a narrow cross section of Christians who are determined to force their beliefs on others. Its not enough for some Christians to say “Merry Christmas”. They demand it from others and seek to punish anyone (individual or business) who do not recite the greeting verbatim, or try to pose a greeting more indicative of their belief or celebration (”Happy Holiday”, “Season’s Greetings”). They impose themselves on other beliefs as in this Air Force Academy case. I’ve never had a Saturday interrupted by pagans knocking on my door seeking entry to try to persuade me to believe the way that they believe.
I don’t use the left to define much of anything.
Webster defines it as “government of a state by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided.”
The United States is NOT a theocracy and never has been.
Placing this cross in that satanic circle was a bit provocative, I acknowledge it.
There is a better and non offensive mean to get rid of that awful, christian-hating pagan circle :
One has only to sprinkle holy (blessed) water every morning in that place to block Satan coming in.
I personnally watched the amazing effects of holy water on possessed persons (hence on Satan who is dwelling in these persons) to know that this so called “pagan circle” would be left soon after by the Devil’s adepts for a better and hidden place where to worship him without being disturbed by any holy counter measures.
Try this and you will be stunned.
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