AIR FORCE ACADEMY — A religious-liberty advocate said Friday that Air Force Academy officials have convinced him they’re serious about investigating a possible case of religious harassment, easing his earlier doubts.

Mikey Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, expressed skepticism earlier this month whether the academy was doing enough after a large wooden cross was found at a campus worship space for pagans and followers of other Earth-centered religions.

Speaking Friday at the academy’s National Character and Leadership Symposium, Weinstein said his doubts were eased after a conversation with the academy superintendent, Lt. Gen. Michael Gould. He said miscommunication within the academy caused his original concern.

He said he and Gould now have a secret, one-word code they can use to alert each other when a religious-tolerance issue arises.

The investigation is still underway, and officials don’t know whether the placement of the cross was malicious, innocent or something in between, said academy spokeswoman Capt. Corinna Jones. “Everything is not always as it seems,” she said.

Jones said investigators have been conducting interviews, but she didn’t know whether anyone has been identified as a suspect or arrests have been made. She said she didn’t know when the investigation might conclude.

Weinstein said he received an e-mail Thursday that might provide “a lead to a lead.” He declined to give specifics but said the e-mail had been turned over to investigators.

Weinstein, an Albuquerque attorney and a 1977 graduate of the academy, started the Military Religious Freedom Foundation after some academy cadets reported in 2004 they had been harassed or ostracized over their religious beliefs, or because they were not religious.

Weinstein has accused fundamentalist Christians at the academy and elsewhere in the military of improperly pressuring subordinates to convert.

At least two armed guards were visible nearby while Weinstein was at the academy. He said he often gets threats because of his advocacy.

Jones said the school had assigned a plainclothes armed guard to Weinstein.

More than 350 cadets, officers and others crowded into a room to hear Weinstein speak, many of them standing. They gave him standing ovations when he was introduced, when he finished speaking and when he finished answering questions.

Weinstein told them his foundation is at war with some fundamentalist Christians in the military who put their faith ahead of their oath to defend the Constitution. “When you put that uniform on, there’s only one religion: patriotism,” he said.