Air Force Builds Wiccan Center; Someone Erects a Cross

The Air Force Academy's newly opened outdoor worship area for Wiccans was supposed to signal a new era of religious tolerance at an institution long plagued by complaints of Christian bias. Until, that is, a cross was planted in the middle of it two weeks ago. Now angry religious freedom advocates say the academy's "tepid" response to the cross incident shows nothing has really changed, the LA Times reports.

The academy has been working to improve its religious climate since a 2004 survey found many non-Christian cadets felt harassed by their evangelical Christian peers and an Air Force task force concluded that the academy had failed to accommodate come cadets' religious needs. Advocates for Wiccan students likened the cross incident to placing a swastika at a Jewish student center and said the academy's reaction to the cross incident would have been stronger if a different religion had been involved. (More Air Force stories.)