Become an Ordained Minister

These are stories about why people became ministers with the Universal Life Church. They tell about what motivated them and about what they've done with their ministries.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Becoming Ordained Online for Free

Become an Ordained minister with a single click

There has always been countless conflicts and bloodshed over religious matters.
These conflicts, or ‘Holy Wars,’ are a thing that I have always found both odd and sad.
For the most part, religions almost always promote love, understanding, peace, unity, and salvation on some level.

However, there have been more deaths as a result of differing beliefs and misunderstanding than casualties due to war.

I think that it’s time to find people who want to embrace religious tolerance and peace— so that’s exactly what I did.

After some time researching, I found the Universal Life Church.
Universal Life Church
Jody Barber


This church started in 1959 as a religious organization based on a central belief:
“Every person has the natural right (and the responsibility) to peacefully determine what is right as long as it does not infringe on the rights of others.”  
In more recent times, they have expanded past their original location of Modesto, California and moved to a primarily online organization.  There is still a church building in Modesto, however.
The ULC is a strong supporter for the freedom of religion, immediately stating that its members welcome and accept all faiths. Another ground-breaking achievement that the Universal Life Church has committed itself to is ‘free legal ordination for life.’
They believe that no outside force can determine if a person is to be ordained – only God. Therefore within minutes, you can become one of the ULC’s 20+ million legally ordained ministers.
I was elated at finding this church. All religious organizations seem to promote ‘religious tolerance’ until it’s no longer convenient, but this church was actually committed to not only religious tolerance, but religious love and understanding.
I was, however, instantly skeptical of the free ordination—I could not believe that someone would/could give it away so freely.
I have been a follower of a not-so-mainstream faith for many years, and was deeply interested in ministry.

Naturally, I did not believe that someone who was certified to license a minister would license me, due to my choice in faiths.

When I found the ULC, I immediately contacted various clerks of state in Georgia to validate that this type of organization was legitimate—it was! So I, too, became one of the ULC’s many ministers.

After my ordination, I further examined the ULC’s wide range of tools for their ministers.
The online church website is filled with tips on how to improve your ministry, information on perform weddings of different faiths, a collection of minister-submitted sermons, and prayer requests among many other things, including the ordination form.

The church really seems to take an interest in helping their clergy along their religious path.
So, if you’re interested in ministry and believe that all faiths can exist together in this world, the Universal Life Church might be the place for you.

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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. 

Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is free,  and lasts for life, so use the Free Online Ordination, button.We also offer many free wedding ceremonies for your use.

 
The  ULC, run by Rev. Long, has created a chaplaincy program to help train our ministers. We also have a huge catalog of Universal Life Church materials.  I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and have loved watching the continual growth of the seminary.  
 
Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Becoming An Ordained Minister

The Universal Life Church
from Issue #7 March 2004
This was written before the Universal Life Church Seminary was created.  Since then, the ULC offers a lot more in the way of courses, training and overall credibility.


by Dan Shaurette
daniel@acrimony.org
http://www.ShauretteNet.com


"Every day, people are straying away from the church and going back to God."
- Lenny Bruce

Hello there, I'm a religious zealot. No, really. I mean, I may not carry my propaganda with me, and I certainly will not thump you with anything, but I don't mind a little pulpit action now and then.

What religion do I preach? None in particular, actually. I just enjoy the subject, and I love seeing people either squirm away from the subject, or join in with enthusiasm. If I preach anything, it's tolerance. I love learning about not only the different religions people practice, but also how people actually practice their religions.

America is a funny country. It is one of few nations that does not have an officially recognized or sanctioned religion. This has a lot of great perks; of which my favorite is there's no such crime as "heresy". Think about it. Isn't it liberating to know that you cannot be hanged or burned at the stake.. at least not by the government? I know it helps me sleep at night.

Not only that, we work really hard to keep it that way. There's always some argument going on about the "separation of Church and State" or "the establishment clause". This all boils down to what the Constitution of the United States has to say on the subject. Well, actually, the first Amendment of the Constitution. See the framers of the Constitution took a few things for granted, believing we had certain inalienable rights. They eventually decided to write ten of those rights down, calling them the Bill of Rights, and added them to the Constitution in 1791.

In any case, the First Amendment says the following: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Now if you ask me, truly, the First Amendment says all of the really important stuff that governs the freedoms we all enjoy. I can worship whomever I want, or no one at all if I should choose. I can say whatever I want, and write whatever I want, criticizing or praising anybody I choose. I can hang out with a bunch of my close personal friends who share my beliefs. Finally, I can register my complaints about anything to the government, when other people, including the government, try to mess with my rights. What a country.

What blows my mind, though, is the fact that it isn't the free speech part, or the petition of grievances part that comes first. It's the free exercise of religion. This was a pretty revolutionary idea at the time, literally. Sometimes, it still seems to be a radical concept to this day. This brings me to my whole zealot status I mentioned.

I love religion. All of 'em. Old, new, reformed or orthodox. Pick a god, any god. They're pretty cool by me (and the goddesses too). Wow. Love 'em. Problem was, I use to think they were all mutually exclusive. This belief of mine coming from my upbringing, as I'm sure is similar to yours, especially if you belonged to one of The Big Three religions; Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The First Commandment says, "You shall have no other gods before Me."

Again, amazing how the biggies are listed first to get the most attention. My point being, in my youth I took this to mean that all other religions were false. As I grew older, and perhaps more cynical, I realized this is a statement of jealousy. More over, it acknowledges other gods exist; this one just wants to be praised first. Well more power to Him, I say.

So I started wondering, are there churches, or other religions, out there that broadly embrace all religions, or at least as many as they can list. The answer, it seems, is a big fat YES! The biggest, or at least, the most readily available and accessible, is the Universal Life Church.

You may or may not have heard of this church before. What you may have heard may also be positive or negative about it. I'm all for listing the good and bad sides of everything, because I personally want to know all sides of an issue and want to help everyone make their own decision. Free exercise. Gotta love it.

The Universal Life Church, or ULC, was started in 1959 by Kirby Hensley in Modesto, California. The ULC is a non-denominational and interfaith church. Its goal was and still is to legally ordain anyone as a minister of the ULC regardless of sex, race, age, creed, or religious belief. That's right, no matter what your personal religious beliefs are. The idea being that not only do you not have to shed your beliefs and ties to your current church, but you could legally preach and administer your beliefs.

The practical purpose of this is to legally ordain a person to be able to perform marriage ceremonies. For anyone, no matter his or her beliefs. This ordination is legal in all 50 states because an organized church has decreed it. Many county and state governments have regulations that require the minister to be 18 or older, or that they be licensed in that state. However some states do not.

Arizona, for example, states that "any licensed or ordained clergy" must perform the ceremony. Put simply, if you are ordained by the ULC, that is good enough for them. Nevada on the other hand, which is famous for its weddings, has stricter rules. A minister wishing to perform a marriage must have a congregation or church established in the state of Nevada, and they have a complex set of forms to file in advance. This should not be considered a setback of course, because as an ordained member of the ULC clergy, you can set up your own congregation.

In fact, as a ULC minister, you can officiate one wedding ceremony or make it your business. You can minister at funerals, baptisms, and house blessings, whatever. You can form your own church, hear confessions, offer counseling, grant absolution, and even ordain others.

They only ask that you promote the freedom of religion and that as a minister you "do that which is right." So long as you believe it is right, it is not illegal, and does not infringe another's rights, then you can do what you will. Essentially they follow a legal version of the Golden Rule.

So what's the catch, right? How much does an ordination cost and what do you have to do to get one? Time was, when the church started, it was a mail order organization, and they did ask a small fee for the Certificate of Ordination. Now, thanks to the internet, anyone can get online, visit www.ulcseminary.org, fill out a form, and  voila you are an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church.

Heh, it can't really be that easy, I thought. Fact is this is both the blessing and the damnation of the ULC. It is just that easy. There is no formal indoctrination, no schooling, no anointing, and no swearing allegiance to uphold an ancient dogma, which has served as the instrument of persecution.. ahem, I mean, no oaths. And no nice red uniforms, oh damn. Sorry.

Since it is an automatic process, it is therefore quite easy to take advantage of the ordination process. People have been ordained as a practical joke, using false, profane, or silly names; people have ordained their pets, dead people, famous people, fictional characters, etc. The ULC lost credibility in the past because of this, but has instituted controls in filing their ordination requests. Legal names must be used in order to be valid, and people actually go through each request and only record those that are not suspicious.

Even though these processes are in place, and the ordinations are legal, there are still those who deride the church and its members. Granted, the idea of going online to become a priest so you can perform a marriage ceremony is humorous. It makes for great comedy material. For example, on the NBC show Friends, when Chandler and Monica were engaged, Joey went online and got ordained so he could be the one to marry his best friends. While this is funny, I personally also think it is very sweet. The fact that this is legal, and most people don't believe it is, is what makes it funny to me.

The idea appealed to me back in October of 2001. Sorry, I just had to stop and realize that was over two years ago. So much has happened since then. For me, I did it, believe it or not, in response to the September 11 attacks. I personally suffered a crisis of Faith, as I think many people in this country did. A holy war brought about the deaths of many innocent people on American soil. Things like this happened all the time in other countries. But now it was personal.

Until that day, I considered myself unofficially to be an apathetic agnostic. But even I had the question cross my mind, "How could God let this happen?" This question either shored up or decimated the faith of many people. At first, I wobbled unsteadily upon the picket fence I had until then balanced effortlessly along.

After the attack, I saw and heard things that made me feel the gamut of negative emotions. Horror, Fear, Anger, Sadness, and Confusion in the beginning as my TV witnessed the destruction in NY and DC. Then I had begun to feel Pride, Charity and Love again as I watched the bravery and humbleness of those at Ground Zero, NY. Then I watched the negative sides of my fellow Americans emerge -- Hate, Intolerance, Pain, Ignorance, and Prejudice. To hear stories of violence and persecution against Arabian or Muslim Americans disgusted me beyond words.

Then, when I honestly thought things couldn't have seemed worse, Jerry Falwell came onto the scene. At a time of our darkest hour, when what we needed to see was the light at the end of a tunnel somewhere, his words caused a cave in. He said, "The pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians... the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America, I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen'."

To put it politely, I snapped. I wanted to do something, anything, to affirm my personal belief that in this country, people had the right to say and believe anything they liked. I found the ULC online, became ordained, and decided to form my own "church".

I created a website where anyone could come if they chose, to speak their minds, share their ideas and ideals, their hopes, dreams, and prayers. Where all gods and goddesses could be worshiped, discussed, and analyzed. A place where questions about rituals, beliefs, doctrines could be answered. I don't have all the answers, so the more people who visit and communicate, the better. It's my personal effort to snub the Religious Reich.. er, Right, and proof that I finally shed my apathy.

I do believe in the Divine. Those internal and external forces that elude our five senses that make us fail to prove their existence. But proof does not deny faith as far as I'm concerned, neither does lack of proof. I agree and disagree with the tenets of many religions, so I do not consider myself a follower of any particular path. But the path I am on is one of enlightenment. Enlightenment is not a destination, but a journey.

A "minister" is not the same as a "preacher". Many times the terms are interchanged, and sometimes people may take what I do as preaching. I call it "rambling". I'm espousing my own beliefs. You may share them or not. I am not hurt if you choose not to agree with my points of view. In contrast, the goal of a preacher is to encourage you to do more than share their beliefs. They tell you what is right and wrong, and what the consequences of your choices are. I am an advisor, or counselor, by my nature. I am happy to give advice and help to those who ask me for it. But I do not tell people that they have to do what I say.

The Universal Life Church granted me the opportunity to be recognized for what I have been all my life: a Minister. Ordained and recorded by their Registry in Modesto, California. Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. Chartered by the Divine on a special quest: Life.

In my mind, the ULC represents the great alternative religion. It has stood up to even the playing field for everyone. This is what ultimately upsets the established religions that have made their churches into exclusive clubs. Or perhaps, more accurately, have turned the Afterlife into the Ultimate exclusive club. We all pay the same admission fee to get there.

Pick one, pick none, pick all of the above. If you like, take a peek at my website, www.AquariusChurch.org, the Aquarius Church of Enlightenment. I'll end this with one of my favorite quotes by Thomas Jefferson.


"Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a Censor morum over each other. Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth."

- Thomas Jefferson  
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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. 

Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is free,  and lasts for life, so use the Free Online Ordination, button.We also offer many free wedding ceremonies for your use.

 
The  ULC, run by Rev. Long, has created a chaplaincy program to help train our ministers. We also have a huge catalog of Universal Life Church materials.  I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and have loved watching the continual growth of the seminary.  
 
Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar
 

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Becoming a Reverend

My+Short%2c+Strange+Trip+to+Becoming+a+Reverend
by Diane Steinbach -- Staff Writer

Last month I talked about making life-lists to help solidify one’s goals and make sometimes abstract thoughts into concrete actions to be achieved. 

As I wrote that article, I included a long standing dream of mine of becoming ordained. Again, I don’t want the actual hassles that come with a life of servitude, but just something to hold over people’s heads and help me get a discounted rate at the Super 8 motels.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a spiritual person, having grown up in the Catholic church has however beaten the joy of creation out of me and replaced it with an aching feeling that all that kneeling and chanting was just the evidence of yet another cult. I believe in God, but am still not sure how to define him . . . or her. I believe in Jesus, but am not sure that he wasn’t just a really cool hippy with a lot of great ideas. Obviously I haven’t gotten it all figured out yet.

To complicate the issue, I am a psychic medium, (you heard me) and have long been able to peer through the veil of this world into the next one. What am I seeing? Experiencing? Is it heaven? Hell? Or just another layer of existence we don’t yet understand. Ok, maybe Rod Serling did, but not the rest of us.
So, as I sent off October’s Cynic column, I began to do the easiest thing on my life-list; get ordained online.

I began this adventure with a Google search of free instant online ordinations. If it ain't free and instant, it ain’t for me. I found lots of places that would ordain me for a price, ranging from 150 bucks to 250 for the "starter kit." Too rich for my blood! 150 bucks? That’s like 5 nights-worth of Chinese delivery! 

After a few hours searching (I was also doing laundry, so the total search time may be off) I came up with two instant online ordinations. 

The first site I found was ‘Compuchurch.com’ where I became a minister through their "Minister O Matic" page. Honest! You just can’t make up something that good! As a member of the cyberspace Universal Life church, I am sure I will be inundated with both snail mail and email regarding what a minister needs to buy in order to tend his flock.

I wasn’t really satisfied with the ‘Compuchurch’ deal though, as I am a God-fearing woman (no lie, I am scared sh**less!) and didn’t really want to reach the pearly gates to be sent to the cyber-heaven all of us internet minister get shoved into. Hence, I continued my search.

Next, I found the ‘Spiritual Humanism Church’ that would happily ordain me in an instant, but wouldn’t provide any kind of certificate that I could flaunt under the noses of the real religious muckity-mucks I wanted to piss off. Um, I mean... oh, never mind. I did kind of dig their philosophy of science and logic, but without the certificate, forget it.
So, finally, I found Universal Life Church (may or may not be affiliated with the cyberspace Universal Life Church) at ulcseminary.org. They had it all; instant ordination, a certificate I can print out at home and a philosophy based on love and kindness. Bingo. I filled out the information, and printed out my certificate, and voila!

Now I realize I still need to buy a few items in order to marry my lesbian friends and perform other rites of passage, but that’s okay. I kind of like being part of some kind of religious organization again, and I am holding my head a bit higher now that I am officially a Reverend. 

I am ordained now through two different sites, just to make sure it sticks. That makes me not only a Reverend, but a Reverend to the second power. R2. Granted, I am not a real religious scholar, but maybe that’s what religion needs. More real people and less sheltered hypocrites.

I am hoping the alumni organizations for my Catholic grammar, high school and college aren’t reading this, as I really enjoy getting asked for money and reading about the successful marriages and childbearing of old classmates. Really. I do. 

In any case, that’s my brief journey of enlightenment. Stay tuned for more information on a possible church I might start . . .  Perhaps the ‘Universal Church of Tofu,’ or ‘Reverend Diane’s 3-D house of God.' 

I will start working on the bumper stickers.

Universal Life Church Seminary


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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. 

Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is free,  and lasts for life, so use the Free Online Ordination, button.We also offer many free wedding ceremonies for your use.

 
The  ULC, run by Rev. Long, has created a chaplaincy program to help train our ministers. We also have a huge catalog of Universal Life Church materials.  I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and have loved watching the continual growth of the seminary.  
 
Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

Sunday, June 06, 2010

Ordination story

Amy,
I am Rev. Michael Brian Riley. My ministry has taken me to the Dallas Veterans Administration Hospital. As a paralyzed veteran I volunteer in the VA hospital's Spinal Cord Injury center. I help feed the patients that can't feed themselves, Talk with the patients, help new injuries come to terms with what has happened to them and tell and show the how life goes on in spite of our injuries.

Regards,
Michael B. Riley

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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more.  
Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is free,  and lasts for life, so use the Free Online Ordination, button.We also offer many free wedding ceremonies for your use.   
The  ULC, run by Rev. Long, has created a chaplaincy program to help train our ministers. We also have a huge catalog of Universal Life Church materials.  I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and have loved watching the continual growth of the seminary.    
Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

Become an Ordained Minister

People become ordained for a variety of reasons.

Some people do it as a joke. Some people do it to perform a wedding. Some do it to spread their spiritual truth with others. There are as many reasons as there are ministers and in this blog, I'm going to share some of those stories with you.

The first story is from Rev. Jimmy Warren. The first part of the story is:

I wish to share why I became ordained by the ULC, first I believe we are all called and ordained by God when each of us decide to serve our fellow brethren in the world. I come from a religious back ground,raise in the back of my grandmother's Pentecostal church. My grandfather on the other side of the family was a Baptist so there was some discourse in growing up.

For the rest of the story, go to Become An Ordained Minister.

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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. 

Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is free,  and lasts for life, so use the Free Online Ordination, button.We also offer many free wedding ceremonies for your use.

 
The  ULC, run by Rev. Long, has created a chaplaincy program to help train our ministers. We also have a huge catalog of Universal Life Church materials.  I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and have loved watching the continual growth of the seminary.  
 
Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Online Ordination

At the ULC Seminary, we are very proud of our ministers and like to give them an opportunity to toot their horns about what they've accomplished. I'm not suggesting that that's their motivations, but I believe that good deeds should be recognized.

Nobody has asked for the recognition, which is why I am ready and anxious to share it with you.

Here is part of one man's story:

Amy:


Thank you for the opportunity of being part of your ministry.

I have worked as an Associate Minister with A well-known Ministry in Bound Brook, New Jersey for the last 7 years and recently decided to start my own ministry.

I performed more than 200 weddings and 50 child dedications in 2005 and from the work donated more than $25,000 to charity.


For the rest of the story, go to Active Ministries.

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Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is free  and lasts for life, so use the button.

As a long time member of ULC, Rev. Long created the seminary site to help train our ministers. We also have a huge catalog of Universal Life Church materials. Many have been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and can attest to its ongoing growth and change.


Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Universal Life Church

Hello,

My name is Reverend Willis. I joined the ULC because I wanted to make my quest to seek out the questions I had about life official. Since joining I have been researching all types of religions and have taken the title of minister quite seriously. The powers we give to established religion are very great, and some religions seem to lack the core essentials that the ULC is based on. The ULC has linked me to many great philosophies that can overlap to almost every religion out there.

I don't have to bow my head to any priest or Pope, but I can take their advise. I have found great links to things like Sufi Dances of Universal Peace and great ideas for weddings or religious ceremonies. I just thought I would mention a little bit out of appreciation for everything the ULC represents. Why should all the tax breaks go to the religions that are already established?

I have hopes of creating a church that can focus on guided meditations, positive sermons and an overall sanctuary for anyone who needs some positive energy. The ULC makes everything very simple. I really appreciate the newsletters and this idea about posting ministers online seems very exciting.

Greg

For more stories like this, go to Online Ordination


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To ordain yourself with the Universal Life Church, for free, for life, right now, click on the Free Online Ordination link.

Rev. Long created the ULC seminary site to help ministers learn and grow their ministries. The Seminary offers a huge catalog of materials for ministers of the Universal Life Church