Scores of people carrying firearms and wearing crowns turned out for a church service Wednesday in the Poconos that some have interpreted as a ceremony to bless the AR-15 rifle but the church insists is intended to sanctify marriages.

Those attending the service could not bring loaded guns or ammunition magazines into the church and had to have their weapons inspected before entering the World Peace and Unification Sanctuary in Newfoundland, Pennsylvania.

The church's pastor, the Rev. Sean Moon, is a son of the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church, whose members wear crowns during services.

The church holds that the AR-15 is the "rod of iron" referred to in the New Testament's apocalyptic Book of Revelation and it is depicted in its seal.

Tim Elder, a church official, rejected the notion that the purpose of the ceremony was to bless weapons.

"Today's celebration is a marriage blessing and couples have been asked to attend with crowns and AR-15s," he said. "It is not a blessing of inanimate firearms."

The presence of weapons at the church prompted a nearby elementary school to move classes to another location for the day.

The ceremony came two weeks to the day after a gunman armed with an AR-15 killed 17 students at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla, and prompted a large media turnout.

The church has said the event was planned before the Feb. 14 mass shooting.

------

(c)2018 Philly.com