Unification Church Sanctuary in Newfoundland, Pennsylvania, Holds AR-15 Blessing at Mass Wedding

This article was originally written in 2018 by a member of WhoWhatWhy’s Mentor-Apprentice Program and is reprinted in recognition of the first anniversary of the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. It describes a ceremony at the World Peace and Unification Sanctuary ministry in rural Newfoundland, Pennsylvania, at which AR-15 rifles were blessed. The writer says the ceremony was widely ridiculed in traditional and social media. Before writing, the writer visited Newfoundland twice the previous week and attended the gun-blessing ceremony, taking the time to observe the event firsthand (Proverbs 18:17).

Rev. Hyung Jin (Sean) Moon, the youngest son of Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, took the stage with his wife, Yeon Ah Lee Moon, carrying a gold-plated assault rifle as he prepared for another mass marriage ceremony. The writer notes that Sun Myung Moon was known for mass weddings in New York City’s Times Square. The church’s interior had plain white walls and beige carpet. The only signs that anything was unusual were the rifle and the crowns that each man, woman and child wore. The exterior showed nothing out of the ordinary.

Rev. Moon preached in a moderate, steady tone, looking up from his scripture to make eye contact with the brides and grooms on stage. The congregants stood silent and spoke only when prompted, such as during the reading of the wedding vows, when the crowd shouted “yes!” as a group in response to each vow.

The writer links the scene to remarks made by Barack Obama, who, ten years earlier, told a private gathering in Pennsylvania that some residents were “bitter” and said rural Pennsylvanians “cling to their guns, or religion, or antipathy to people who aren’t like them.” Obama later publicly defended the comments at a CNN town hall. The Republican Party used the remarks as a talking point for years, and vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan referred to them during campaign rallies. The writer argues that the sentiment Obama described was on display at the Newfoundland church, particularly in the wake of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. The writer also says that while the group’s beliefs may seem extreme to most people, they are not as uncommon as one might think.

Near the end of the ceremony, Rev. Moon directed attendees to turn toward the camera, which was live-streaming and recording the event for later posting online, and to wave and bow. He declared, “New couples become royalty, kings and queens with crowns and rods of iron.” The writer explains that “rod of iron” is the biblical term the church uses for guns such as the AR-15, citing Revelation 2:26-27.

Rev. Moon also said that each couple has “the right of sovereignty, to keep and bear arms and to protect the earth from communists and political satanists.” He then wed seven couples on stage in front of a crowd that, the writer notes, also held its own “rods of iron.”

Source: Read the original report