Illustration by Lance Fry

Ministers able to receive authority online

ashley andrus AND01049@BYUI.EDU Scroll Staff

These days everything has become easily accessible with the conveniences of online exploration. With a simple click of the mouse, Internet users can shop, bank, read the news, meet people and research an endless array of subjects.

So how about becoming an ordained minister? Many organizations have now added this online service to the list, providing Web sites where just about anyone can gain legal authority to perform ministerial duties.

Through a quick and easy process, a candidate can fill out his or her application online, including full legal name, mailing address and e-mail address. These applications are typically reviewed by the organization and a confirmation e-mail is then sent back to the applicant approving the ordination. Credentials can be printed out as proof of ministry or applicants can choose to pay a small fee for ministerial certificates sent through the mail.

According to www.universalministries.com, headquartered in Milford, Ill., “becoming a legally ordained minister does not require God’s sanctified approval, but simply the approval of a legal church that accepts you as a spiritual leader within their organization. By that legal church substantiating your ordination in their records, and issuing credentials of proof, you become legally ordained within the law.”

Those who are legally ordained are able to serve in a variety of functions and ceremonies as they decide.

“As an ordained minister, you have all the rights of the clergy,” states one ordination site, www.thechurchofnewlife.org. “You may perform weddings, baptisms, funerals or any other ceremonies of the clergy. You may also start your own church or wedding ministry if you fill the calling. As a minister, you may also start your own counseling or religious healing practice.”

Another site, www.spiritualhumanism.com, lists ceremonies appropriate for ordained ministers to perform, including marriages, baby namings, funerals, handfastings, affirmations of love, invocations, renewals of marriage, holiday ceremonies and other religious ceremonies as long as they do not go against the law or harm other individuals. Ordained ministers are not allowed to perform exorcisms, circumcisions or animal sacrifices.

Depending on which state you live in, there may be differing requirements for those wishing to perform wedding ceremonies.

“Some states require only that a signed marriage certificate be sent to the county clerk’s office post ceremony,” according to the January 2005 issue of Modern Bride. “Others ask ministers to register their names and addresses or present copies of their credentials to the county or state before they perform the wedding…still other states require ministers to obtain specific licenses to marry.”

One popular site, www.ulc.org, (Universal Life Church Seminary) states that since 1995, they have ordained more than 400,000 ministers and claim to have one of the most extensive and most often-visited ministerial sites.

“This lifetime service is free and legal,” it says. “We welcome all faiths, from Christians and Buddhists, to Wiccans and other Pagans. You only need to click on the link to have your ordination sent to headquarters … Once ordained, you can legally perform weddings in the United States.”