Rifles take center stage at church

Faithful clutch AR-15S during commitment rite

NEWFOUNDLAND, Pa. — Crown-wearing worshippers clutching AR-15 rifles drank holy wine and exchanged or renewed wedding vows in a commitment ceremony at a Pennsylvania church on Wednesday, prompting a nearby school to cancel classes.

With state police and a smattering of protesters standing watch outside, brides clad in white and grooms in dark suits brought dozens of unloaded AR-15S into the World Peace and Unification Sanctuary for a religious event.

The church believes the AR-15 symbolizes the “rod of iron” in the book of Revelation, and it encouraged couples to bring the weapons. An AR-15 was used in the Florida high school massacre on Feb. 14.

The Rev. Sean Moon, who leads the church, prayed for “a kingdom of peace police and peace militia where the citizens, through the right given to them by almighty God to keep and bear arms, will be able to protect one another and protect human flourishing.”

Moon is the son of the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon, a self-proclaimed messiah who founded the Unification Church. The younger Moon’s congregation is a breakaway faction of the Unification Church, which had distanced itself from Wednesday’s event.

An attendant checked each weapon at the door to make sure it was unloaded and secured with a zip tie, and the elaborate commitment ceremony went off without a hitch. Some worshippers wore crowns made out of bullets.

Tim Elder, the Unification Sanctuary’s director of world missions, said the ceremony was meant to be a blessing of couples, not “inanimate objects,” calling the AR-15 a “religious accoutrement.”

But Wednesday’s event, coming on the heels of the high school massacre in Parkland, Florida, which killed 17, rubbed emotions raw.

“It’s scaring people in the community,” one protester told a church member. “Are you aware of that?”

The ceremony prompted Wallenpaupack Area School District to move students at an elementary school down the street to other campuses.

Lisa Desiena, from Scranton, protested outside the church with a sign that called the group an “armed religious cult.”

She said she owns a gun, but “I don’t need a freaking assault weapon to defend myself.”

Jacqueline Larma The Associated Press Men wear crowns and hold unloaded weapons at the World Peace and Unification Sanctuary in Newfoundland, Pa., on Wednesday. Worshippers brought their AR-15 rifles to a commitment ceremony at the church.