We Are One

Some of you have noted that I did not post anything last week. I was busy, give me a break.

One of the things I was busy with was getting a new copy of my ordination credentials. Yes, that's right, I'm an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church. In the process of getting these credentials, I discovered a bit of controversy surrounding my church.

The Universal Life Church was started back in 1959 in Modesto, California. Sometime after that, presumably after the advent of the Internet, they started ordaining ministers around the world online. All you have to do is go to their web page, fill out a form and "poof," you are a credentialed and ordained minister.

Back in the early days of the church, people became ministers because they thought it would give them some sort of tax break or allow them to avoid the military draft. Neither, it turns out, was true. Now the majority of people who get ordained do it so they can officiate wedding ceremonies. Some officiate ceremonies for their friends or relatives and some as a business.

Recently, however, the State of Pennsylvania ruled that these Internet-ordained ministers could not perform marriage ceremonies. New York did a similar thing. But already, thousands of people around the country have been married by Internet ministers.

Of course ULC is fighting the matter and has fought and won the same battle in several other states. The argument; the Constitution guarantees religious freedom so how can the government restrict who a church makes a minister? Then there is the separation of church and state issue. If you say one church can't ordain certain people, then you have to set requirements for all churches for who can and cannot be ordained.

The problem started when a branch of ULC in Arizona called "The Monastery" split from ULC and took with it some of the more popular Internet domain names. The Monastery set up their own online ordinations (charging about $10 more for a copy of credential!). These online ordinations were apparently not logged into the churches books by hand, making them invalid according to the State of Pennsylvania. The original ULC still logs all ordinations in by hand.

Why does ULC believe they can ordain anyone who wants to be ordained? The Bible says so. "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain..." (John 15:16).

Why would I, someone who is against organized religion, become ordained? Because I can. If you look at the ULC web site, you'll see that they not only ordain people who go out and officiate weddings as a business, they all ordain people who go on to set up their own churches. Most of these churches are not "Christian" churches though. They are Wiccan, Druid, Pagan, and even Jedi Knights. Strange. But I am a member nonetheless.

Click on the image above to see the Wikipedia page about ULC.

The attempt to silence a man is the greatest honor you can bestow on him. It means that you recognize his superiority to yourself.
--Joseph Sobran