Get ordained today! Join the church that proclaims that ministers have a longer life expectancy and are thus subject to lower insurance premiums!
Yes, as I am sure many of you have guessed, it’s none other than the Universal Life Church. Everyone’s a member, they just don’t know it yet.
All ordination is for free. The ULC will even send you your very own Ministry in a Box or your Monastery Credential Package. And you thought hard drinking, celibacy, and chastity were enough to make you a monk.
So if you’re already a minister, tell us about your ministry here. We SDMB brethren ought to band together and form a little ministry of our own.
MR
Raised Jewish turned agnostic turned Stoic turned Epicurean turned agnostic again turned Buddhist yuppie dabbler
Both Mr. Bobkitty and I are ordained through the ULC. We did it so we could perform weddings for Pagan friends that would be legally recognized… in fact, I’m doing one in September.
Yeah, it’s cheesy, but you do what you’ve got to when you have a president that publicly states paganism isn’t a religion and a congressman that campaigned to have military pagans denied religious services while on active duty.
Imagine my disappoinment when I realized I had misread the thread title… Thought “Minotaur” was an odd thing for poeple to aspire to, but figured it might be a rip-snorter of a thread… Oh, well… But, seriously, in answer to the OP, one of my friends actually did become an ordained minister (not of THIS denomination, mind you), but the thought never occurred to me - maybe the ‘perks’ just didn’t appeal to me at the time…
Speaking of which: Does anybody know any Pagan-freindly ministers in FL? We have to get married in front of our families, so no full-blown ritual, just an exchange of vows in front of somebody the state considers legal. Anybody?
I’m a ULC Minister. Don’t know why; I’m an atheist, I don’t intend to hold services or marry people or try to get some fake tax write-off. Just thought it was cool.
Country Dick Montana was a ULC Minister. He had this great line: “Not anybody can be one. You have to have $25.”
Well, now it’s free online, so I guess anybody can be one. The sky’s the limit; it’s a brave new world.
I became a ULC Minister a couple of months ago so that I could perform the wedding of an old friend of mine. Neither he nor his fiancee are religious and they didn’t want to hire a stranger anyway. I volunteered to do it as a joke and, much to my suprise, both he and his fiancee thought it was a great idea. ULC will ordain anyone for free but they do charge $3.00 if you want a title. I chose the title of Brother.
The wedding was two days ago and I performed the ceremony. Reflecting back on it, it was one of the best experiences of my life. My friend wrote his own ceremony and I read it. Everyone there loved it (especially the families) and I was complemented throughout the entire reception.
I am seriously going to put an ad in the next Yellow Pages offering my services to perform non-religious wedding ceremonies. It will be a great way to do something very enjoyable and make a bit of money on the side. (No, I didn’t charge my friends.)
Among the many and wonderous abilities given to me (like dominion over time and space) is the power to ordain other ministers. Although I have never performed a marriage (it’s against my morals, plus no one has asked me to), a minister ordained by a minister I ordained has performed a marriage.
After I found out I was 1/8 Jewish, my friends stopped calling “Reverend Tim” and started calling me “Rabbi Tim”.
Depending on what state the marriage ceremony is to be performed in, a Universal Life Church “Minister” may not be legally qualified to conduct the ceremony. In one of those states, any “wedding” performed would not result in a valid marriage.
We’ve gone around on this several times, including here (sorry about the formatting, but it is from before the board conversion).
Well it’s legal in California as it should be. Your use of quotes around the word minister is lame. I guess it would have been better for my friends to pay a stranger $300 rather than have someone who has known them for years and loves them perform the ceremony.
I got my ULC Minister’s Credential in the mail today… I think there’s something hilarious about a person who is not allowed to marry his same sex partner being able to officiate at straight weddings…
Although, considering all the Gay Catholic priests around, I shouldn’t be surprised…
I printed mine off just now, and as soon as I have money I will buy the mail one.
This is cute.
My view on the marriage deal: We no longer marry strangers. you marry someone as an end step in the development of a relationship (Woah, this is going to be long term) rather than the beginning of one. The ceremony is a social acknowledgement of that relationship.
God and all his children already knew about the love between the bride and groom. God probably before all the rest of his children. No man’s words or touch can make pure Love any holier than it already is. A man’s signature just gives legal benifits. “Yes, we the people do recognize that this man and this woman (or some combination thereof) want to engage in a really long term relationship. You may now share medical insurance.”
The minister doing the signing has little to do with God and is more of a human’s witness. It might as well be someone the couple knows and loves.
Of course, that could mean a lot of things depending on your definition of Pagan.