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This is an anxious time in America, in a year dominated by division.
There is deep concern that there may be an outbreak of violence after the elections amid an electorate that is likely to be dissatisfied with either outcome.
We have seen militia groups on the rise, an almost constant presence in times of tension.
The Sanctuary Church of World Peace and Unification is based in Pennsylvania
In Pennsylvania, you can see the National Faults uncovered, in a seemingly incongruous congregation nestled in the rural New Foundland landscape.
Inside the Sanctuary Church of World Peace and Unification people are dressed in white with crowns.
They also carry unloaded AR-15 rifles, a popular but highly controversial weapon in America.
The man overseeing the day announces over the loudspeaker that they are “religious supplies.” They believe that the rifles represent the Biblical “rod of iron” referred to in the Book of Revelation, necessary, they say, to protect the children of God.
This is a pro-gun, pro-life, pro-Trump church.
Pastor Sean Moon, a soft-spoken Harvard-educated forty-year-old man, is the head of the church.
His father, Reverend Sun Myung Moon, was a self-proclaimed messiah, his followers pejoratively referred to as Moonies and critics called them cultured.
Pastor Sean Moon leads the church
The church became known for its mass weddings, often among strangers. But after his death, the church split: His son formed a new one that attracted Americans who embrace Christian nationalism and Second Amendment rights.
He tells me that the AR-15, related to mass shootings in the US, is misunderstood.
“I think there is a lot of distortion in the media … there are more stabbings, for example, then deaths from the AR-15 … it is a sports rifle, it is the most popular rifle in the entire United States.”
The president, he acknowledges, is not a perfect man, but he represents his Christian values because “he opposes the murder and genocide of 70 million children … and very radical leftist ideologies.”
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That hug from Trump has seen him draw hundreds each year to his “iron rod” festival, a celebration of guns.
He even met the president’s son, Eric Trump, an indication of the church’s political reach.
When we arrive, they are having an engagement ceremony; hundreds of couples from all over the world, getting married, some remotely.
Ted O’Grady is one of them. He said he will marry Tanya from Russia and that “they have spent the last nine months communicating on Skype and through Google Translate.”
Among those watching is Hope Igarashi.
She, like Trump and many in the church, believes that if Joe Biden became president, he would try to disarm the people and the country would descend into socialism, something Biden rejects.
She believes that there are groups on the left that are plotting problems.
“There are many cells, hidden cells all over the country,” Hope says.
“They are ready. They are preparing for some kind of war to take over our nation. We don’t want to be like Venezuela.”
“Right. Right now. We have people in the food lines trying to get food. And I think we need President Trump to protect us from a lot of terrible things that could happen.”
We know from the evidence that violent right-wing groups are also active in the United States right now.
But like Hope, Annette Yamakawa is concerned about the other party who doesn’t share her political perspective.
He tells me that he has taken classes and practiced in a range in case there is a conflict after the election and claims that the Democrats are doing the same.
He fears that organizations like Antifa are threatening public safety.
Parishioners pray with their weapons
All the people we talk to go out of their way to tell us that the church promotes peace and that they only carry weapons to defend themselves.
They fear a time when a government will overreach.
Mira Williams explains to me that “only an armed militia can really resist a government.”
It is an extraordinary glimpse into life within a church that many will see and perceive as extreme.
But their fears also speak to a larger conversation in America about God and guns.
They capture the anxiety to protect the faith and the right to bear arms that people still feel in this country. It is a conversation and a conflict that is far from resolved.
