Philadelphia Church Blesses AR-15s in Religious Ceremony

While for many, a mass shooting is a sobering reminder of the cruelty of death and gun violence, for others it drives them to cling closer to their guns as if the true threat and problem was that the guns could be taken away. This fervor took on a surreal fervor at the World Peace and Unification Sanctuary in Pennsylvania, where churchgoers took to blessing their AR-15s while wearing crowns made of bullets. Elementary schools around the ceremony evacuated out of fear due to this ceremony.

The ceremony was lead by Reverend Sean Moon — son of the late Reverend Sun Myung Moon who founded the Unification Church, which many call a cult. If you are of a certain age you may remember them as the “Moonies.” The AR-15 — the gun that was used in the massacre in the Parkland, Florida shooting, and many others — is considered by the Unification Church to be the “rod of iron” in the book of revelation. One churchgoer told CBS News that the gun is meant to protect her and her husband against, “sickos and evil psychopaths,” and that “people have the right to bear arms, and in God’s kingdom, you have to protect that. You have to protect against evil.”

The guns were inspected to make sure they were empty and tied off with a zip tie to make sure they didn’t go off.

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