WASHINGTON -- When it comes to persistence, you have to hand it to Rep. Bob Barr. Some critics accused the Georgia Republican of engaging in a witch hunt when he pressed for President Clinton's removal from office last year. This year he's found some real witches to go after. 
           And he has found them, of all places, on American military bases.  Two years ago, in the interest of religious tolerance, the nation's largest military base, Fort Hood, near Austin, Texas, became the first military outpost to sanction the Fort Hood Open Circle, which practices Wicca, a blend of pre-Christian paganism and New Age earth worship. 
           As a result, a few dozen off-duty soldiers have been gathering every full moon for the past two years at an open campsite at the fort. There enlisted personnel can trade their uniforms for hooded robes, chant along with their chosen high priestess, dance around a fire and exercise other rituals in honor  of Mother Earth, Sister Moon and so forth. Some of them even have "Wicca" officially stamped on their dog tags as their religious preference. 
           Other open circles have popped up at Fort Polk in Louisiana, Fort Wainwright in Alaska, Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa and Fort Barrancas in Florida. Another high priestess recently was approved in Germany and another has applied on the Kosovo mission, according to the Washington Post. 
           Kosovo? Ah, yes. Now there's a novel way to send a message to the Yugoslavian government about the toleration of differences.  It may sound strange, but only to us, the uninitiated, say the Wiccans. And who are we to judge? Certainly not the military, says the Pentagon. The military policy is to allow free practice of religion without being judgmental in the interest of diversity, constitutional freedoms and to have a welcoming policy for recruits of all faiths even, uh, unconventional ones. 
           But after a photo of one such fireside ritual turned up in the Austin American-Statesman, the issue hit the fan. Rep. Barr, undaunted by the  possibility that someone might cast a nasty spell on him, fired off a letter to Lt. Gen. Leon S. Leponte, Fort Hood's commander, last month. In it, he called Wicca worship on base "nonsense" and a "dangerous precedent" that should be ended immediately. 
           "What next?" he wrote. "Will armored divisions be forced to travel with  sacrificial animals for satanic rituals? Will Rastafarians demand the inclusion of ritualistic marijuana cigarettes in their rations?" 
           Some Christian conservative leaders are going even further. Paul M.  Weyrich, radio talk show host and president of the Free Congress Foundation, has called for Christians to boycott the Army until it "withdraws all official support and approval from witchcraft." His call for a "recruiting strike" has been joined by other Christian conservative groups, including the  Christian Coalition, Traditional Values Coalition and the American Family  Association. 
           Barr recently tried to amend a defense authorization bill to prohibit the practice of Wicca or any other form of witchcraft on military property. It died on procedural grounds, but he vows to keep fighting. "I'm not talking about what people do with their private lives," he told me in a telephone interview.
       "If they want to bay at the moon or whatever, that's fine. But they ought to do it outside our military facilities." 
           Wiccans cite past court opinions that declare it to be a religion for First  Amendment purposes. But Barr argues that such rulings should not apply to  military bases. He cites Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist's opinion in Goldman v. Weinberger (1986) that "the military need not encourage debate or tolerate protest to the extent that such tolerance is required of the civilian state by the First Amendment." 
           Nevertheless, based on other cases involving religious displays and  practices on public property, this one sounds to me like a constitutional slam dunk for the Wiccans. Like it or not, it will be downright impossible under the First Amendment's protections for the military to pick and choose which  religions it allows or disallows, as long as none of the sect's practices violate any laws. 
           In general, the courts have allowed either all religions or none to be practiced on public property. Once Christmas, Hanukkah or other religious holiday displays are allowed in city halls and town squares, all religions must be afforded similar access. 
           That approach may not please everyone, but it is fair. The simplicity of its logic is downright elegant. One might even say it's bewitching. 
           My comparison to Christmas nativity scenes in village halls seemed to catch Barr by surprise during our telephone interview, but he insisted it probably does not apply to military bases. 
           He may be right, but I doubt it. I'd bet a caldron of newt's eyes on it.