# Can I really get "ordained" as a marrying minister online? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 28, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-really-get-ordained-as-a-marrying-minister-online/587138 "2011-06-28T14:34:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-really-get-ordained-as-a-marrying-minister-online/587138/41 "2011-06-28T20:32:42Z")
I was married quite legally in Minnesota, and our officiant was a woman who was ordained online. It was great to be married by a friend. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-really-get-ordained-as-a-marrying-minister-online/587138/42 "2011-06-28T21:06:19Z")
This atheist got married to another atheist in Las Vegas by a minister who performed a non-religious ceremony at our request. I’m sure Catholic churches and the like won’t offer that service. The ULC website offers some sort of [kit specific to New York City](http://www.themonastery.org/catalog/newyorkcityofficiantregistrationpackage-p-286.html) that will help you make your marriage officiating nice and legal, so they say. It appears to include the application form that the city requires. I too am an ordained ULC minister. I call my ministry “the Church of Nothing In Particular”. It’s rather casual. The only “marriage” I’ve ever performed was a non-legal ceremony for a gay couple I knew. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-really-get-ordained-as-a-marrying-minister-online/587138/43 "2011-06-28T21:50:36Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Sorry, I didn’t state that well. There is no guaranteed source of for-hire secular marriage officiating in New York. Most officiants (unless you are lucky enough to convince a mayor or judge to preside) have some religious affiliation. > > The clerk only marries people at the office of the clerk/City Hall/Town hall, whichever government building applies. Though “religious affiliation” doesn’t mean “dogmatic belief system.” Unitarians have been marrying atheists for 40 years. Its interesting that NY law is so Judeo Christian in its definition of religion. “church or synagogue” but not “mosque or temple.” So 19th century (or perhaps even 18th century) of them. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-really-get-ordained-as-a-marrying-minister-online/587138/44 "2011-06-29T01:35:23Z")
I’ve been an ordained ULC minister for many years, and have attempted exactly 0 legal acts related to this “ordination”. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-really-get-ordained-as-a-marrying-minister-online/587138/45 "2011-06-29T01:38:50Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Though “religious affiliation” doesn’t mean “dogmatic belief system.” > > Unitarians have been marrying atheists for 40 years. > > Its interesting that NY law is so Judeo Christian in its definition of religion. “church or synagogue” but not “mosque or temple.” So 19th century (or perhaps even 18th century) of them. “Church” has a pretty expansive definition under the law and includes those categories easily. (Mentioning synagogues is probably redundant.) ---
**Author:** ![Analogue\_Skywalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Analogue\_Skywalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Analogue_Skywalker)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-really-get-ordained-as-a-marrying-minister-online/587138/46 "2011-06-29T02:49:35Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Ministry work is a calling from God and people ordained by God (not man), as such some including ULC offer them openly as they should not stand in the way of a person’s callings, nor should place any restrictions on it. Some feel that restrictions and religious training detract from a ministry by mixing rules of men in with teachings of God. > > Because it is of God, the state has to walk very carefully around it (separation of church and state) AMEN ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-really-get-ordained-as-a-marrying-minister-online/587138/47 "2011-06-29T02:55:33Z")
Those authorized to solemnize a marriage in New York according to Domestic Relations Law sections 1 and 11-c include: [ol][li]A clergyman or minister of any religion[/li][li]A leader of any of several enumerate Ethical Culture Societies. or of any other Ethical Culture Society affiliated with the American Ethical Union[/li][li]A village mayor[/li][li]A County Executive[/li][li]A city mayor[/li][li]A city recorder of a city less than 100,000 in population[/li][li]A police justice of a city[/li][li]A police magistrate of a city less than 100,000 in population[/li][li]A former Mayor of New York City[/li][li]The New York City Clerk, his deputies, or one of not more than four regular clerks designated by him[/li][li]A judge of the federal circuit court of appeals for the second circuit[/li][li]A judge of a federal district court of New York (there are four districts)[/li][li]A judge of the United States court of international trade[/li][li]A federal administrative law judge presiding in this state[/li][li]A judge or retired judge of the court of appeals.[/li][li]A judge or retired judge of the appellate division of the supreme court in each department.[/li][li]A judge or retired judge of the supreme court. (Note: contrary to the Federal and most states’ usage, this is the court of general jurisdiction, equivalent to superior court in many states.)[/li][li]A judge or retired judge of the court of claims.[/li][li]A judge or retired judge of the county court in each county[/li][li]A judge or retired judge of the family court.[/li][li]A judge or retired judge of the surrogate’s court in each county.[/li][li]A judge or retired judge of the city court outside the city of New York.[/li][li]A judge or retired judge of the district court in each county or portion thereof in which such[/li] court shall be established. (Only Nassau County AFAIK) [li]A town justice or retired town justice[/li][li]A village justice or retired village justice[/li][li]A housing judge or retired housing judge of the civil court of the city of New York[/li]the clerk of the appellate division of the supreme court in each judicial department [li]A retired New York City Clerk[/li][li]A county clerk in Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens, or Richmond Counties[/li][li]A marriage officer appointed by the governing board of any village, town, or city[/ol][/li] In addition, a marriage may be solemnized by means of this: > [@](#): > > A written contract of marriage signed by both parties and at least two witnesses, all of whom shall subscribe the same within this state, stating the place of residence of each of the parties and witnesses and the date and place of marriage, and acknowledged before a judge of a court of record of this state by the parties and witnesses in the manner required for the acknowledgment of a conveyance of real estate to entitle the same to be recorded. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-really-get-ordained-as-a-marrying-minister-online/587138/48 "2011-06-29T11:45:02Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > “Church” has a pretty expansive definition under the law and includes those categories easily. (Mentioning synagogues is probably redundant.) Obviously. Or it would have been struck down eons ago. Obviously Muslims in NYC marry. Its just such a assumptive phrasing. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-really-get-ordained-as-a-marrying-minister-online/587138/49 "2011-06-29T13:36:09Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Those authorized to solemnize a marriage in New York according to Domestic Relations Law sections 1 and 11-c include: I am talking about the practical aspect. If you want to have a marriage ceremony, not in a courtroom or a public building, by a purely secular officiant, you’re going to have a problem in New York State. Believe me I am married in New York State and it is a HUGE problem. You would think all those retired judges would offer it as a side business – they don’t. We were unable to identify any purely secular officiant performing marriages in New York City. We went with a super-liberal Rabbi who agreed not to use the word “God.” ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-really-get-ordained-as-a-marrying-minister-online/587138/50 "2011-06-29T14:07:11Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > I am talking about the practical aspect. If you want to have a marriage ceremony, not in a courtroom or a public building, by a purely secular officiant, you’re going to have a problem in New York State. Believe me I am married in New York State and it is a HUGE problem. You would think all those retired judges would offer it as a side business – they don’t. We were unable to identify any purely secular officiant performing marriages in New York City. We went with a super-liberal Rabbi who agreed not to use the word “God.” Friends of mine were married in New York State by a sitting judge who did it as a side business. It was not in any kind of government building. **Tom Scud** and I were married in IL by his sister, who is a Universal Life Church minister - no additional paperwork required. Oddly enough, she was married a few weeks before us, and their father, who is an actual career ordained Protestant minister, had to register with the county or something in MN before he could legally officiate at his own daughter’s wedding. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-really-get-ordained-as-a-marrying-minister-online/587138.md?page=2)