Dozens
of US couples donned crowns and cradled guns at a controversial
ceremony in a Pennsylvania church on Wednesday, forcing a nearby school
to close and angering protesters.
World Peace and Unification Sanctuary in
Newfoundland, Pennsylvania believes the AR-15 symbolizes the 'rod of
iron' in the biblical book of Revelation.
The
incongruous event in Newfoundland, part of rural Pennsylvania that voted
68 percent for President Donald Trump in 2016, underscored the gulf
between those who fiercely defend the US constitutional right to bear
arms and advocates of greater gun control.
The
event, in which couples commit to each other, was organized by Hyung Jin
Moon, younger son of the late Sun Myung Moon, whose World Peace and
Unification Sanctuary is a tiny spin-off of the Unification Church
founded by his father, a self-declared "messiah" considered a charlatan
by critics.
The younger Moon is homophobic and close to the extreme right, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
He
extols a religion of weapons and prayer, in which congregants are
"sovereign" of their own families, required to defend faith and kin
alike.
Moon
speaks regularly on YouTube alongside an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and
arrived at Wednesday's celebration accompanied by three armed men in
fatigues.
While
the commitment ceremony, attended by around 500 people, evoked some of
the mass weddings for which his father was famous, the younger Moon
deviated in encouraging congregants to carry an AR-15 -- albeit locked
and not loaded.
It
fell on the same day that students returned to their high school in
Parkland, Florida for the first time since a 19-year-old used an AR-15
to kill 17 students and school staff two weeks ago.
With
the United States again riled by torturous debate on gun controls, an
elementary school near the Sanctuary closed for the day.
Last Saturday, the younger Moon organized a dinner "in thanks of President Trump" to benefit the Gun Owners Foundation.
A
dozen protesters gathered outside the event on Wednesday, holding up
posters that read "Worship God, Not Guns" and "God Does Not Bless Guns."
- Guns in the room -
"I got
to the tipping point," said Sheila Cunningham, a demonstrator from
Milford 30 miles (48 kilometers) away who came with her 18-year-old
daughter Sophie to protest.
She
said she was "very annoyed" that the event was tantamount to political
endorsement and that it was "time to revoke" the non-profit status of
such religious groups.
But
those in the congregation, like many other Americans, believe US school
shootings do not justify stricter gun laws in a country where firearms
are linked to more than 30,000 deaths annually.
"Unfortunately
in most of the world, people seem to feel that the only people that
should have arms are the ones that govern us," says Andrew Kessler, a
lawyer from the affluent suburb of Westchester, New York, dressed in a
black suit and red tie.
"I
don't think restricting gun ownership has proven that where there are
less guns, there will be less violence," he said, carrying the AR-15 he
purchased a few months ago.
A long-time hunter, Kessler says he became "more favorable to gun ownership" after attending the Newfoundland church.
John
Paul Harris, 68, from nearby Scranton and wearing a black NRA cap,
called himself "a proud life member" of the National Rifle Association,
the powerful American gun lobby group.
"I
wish never to have to use it on a human being," he said of his weapon.
Yet with all the guns in the room, the church at times gave off the air
of a private militia.
"In
essence, you know, we believe in a peace police, in a peace militia,"
said Kyle Toffey, a helper at the ceremony wearing a metal crown. "It's
just that we need to be God-centered when we are armed.”
AFP
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