Become a minister today!

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Qwikness

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Believe whatever you want. Teach whatever you want.
Become a minister today, now, for free.
ulc.net/
Does this dilute Christianity? Does it mock Religion?
 
I have pagan friends of mine who are registered ministers, and they legally perform handfastings (pagan wedding ceremonies).
 
Tori Spelling performed a wedding recently, gay couple. :hypno:
 
Among non-programmed Friends Meeting, all Friends are “ministers”…each of us are called to listen to the moving of the Spirit in Meeting. When we arrive in Meeting for Worship if the Spirit moves us to speak, we do.

For wedding ceremonies, the whole Meeting signs the certificate and the Clerk of the Meeting usually signs the license…but not always…in some Meetings some of the members are “Recorded ministers.” The Meeting as a whole has been led in the Light to recongnize one Friend in particular as having “a gift of ministry.” As all gifts of ministry are given to us by God and He is the One who calls and ordains, those of us in Meeting can only witness to the truth of the call…and record it in the minutes of the Meeting.

The “recording of ministers” is usually found among those Friends who have a pastoral system or “programmed Meeting for Worship”.

Each and everyone of us who are recipients of grace through Christ and live in the Light are partakers of the priesthood of all believers…each of us have direct and unrestricted access to the Father through Christ, so a “sacramental/sacrificial” priesthood is not necessary.
 
Wow, a “make it up as you go-do it yourself religion” based upon what ever motivates you at any particular moment, not to mention free to ‘worship’ any ole deity ya want. Gosh, where do I sign up?:rotfl:
 
love4mary said:
Wow, a “make it up as you go-do it yourself religion” based upon what ever motivates you at any particular moment, not to mention free to ‘worship’ any ole deity ya want. Gosh, where do I sign up?:rotfl:
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Because Friends believe the Light of Christ illuminates all humanity…every person has a measure of the Light of Christ…you are already…“signed up”🙂
 
Publisher said:
Because Friends believe the Light of Christ illuminates all humanity…every person has a measure of the Light of Christ…you are already…“signed up”🙂
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But, you’re a Christian, a Qwaker. This “church” is just about positive vibrations. It could be worshipping a greenbean if you wanted it to, as long as you taught to Be Excellent To Each Other.
 
Qwikness said:
But, you’re a Christian, a Qwaker. This “church” is just about positive vibrations. It could be worshipping a greenbean if you wanted it to, as long as you taught to Be Excellent To Each Other.
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I consider myself a Christian, but on this board distinctions are drawn with a very hard and fast line and I have been told quite unequivocally I am not a Christian and I am a heretic…so that another group would fall under Catholic disfavor…isn’t any surprise.🙂 I wasn’t sure if your comment was addressed at my post or the OP as yours followed mine…I have been called a “qwaker” before too…but I’m sure you meant “Quaker”.🙂
 
Publisher said:
I consider myself a Christian, but on this board distinctions are drawn with a very hard and fast line and I have been told quite unequivocally I am not a Christian and I am a heretic…so that another group would fall under Catholic disfavor…isn’t any surprise.🙂
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Wha? Did you see the website?

“Do only that which is right”.
Every person has the natural right (and the responsibility) to peacefully determine what is right. We are advocates of religious freedom.
The Universal Life Church wants you to pursue your spiritual beliefs without interference from any outside agency, including government or church authority.

So…believe what you want, here’s your ministers license, Just say you belong to our church. Sounds like Unitarian Universalist.

I betcha people make money off of it.
 
Qwikness said:
Wha? Did you see the website?

“Do only that which is right”.
Every person has the natural right (and the responsibility) to peacefully determine what is right. We are advocates of religious freedom.
The Universal Life Church wants you to pursue your spiritual beliefs without interference from any outside agency, including government or church authority.

So…believe what you want, here’s your ministers license, Just say you belong to our church. Sounds like Unitarian Universalist.

I betcha people make money off of it.
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I did, but I didn’t think too much about it. The Universal Life Church has been around for decades. If I remember correctly it was set up as a means of “tax shelter”. For years “members” were “donating” money to their church and using their home as “church”, so they received a large tax write off at the end of the year.

The premise was all it took to be considered a church was a minister, a treasurer and three members…they incorporated in the city or state they resided and “poof” they were a church…the IRS put a stop to it in the early 90’s as I recall. So yes…people made money off of it.

My brother was one such “minister”…he formed “The Church of the Infernal Diatribe”…and wrote off his taxes for years…IRS finally caught up with him after they won law suits against other “ministers”…he had to pay $10k in back taxes and fines…he got off easy.
 
Some guy got busted for trying to say pot was a sacrement.
I guess he had to much of the sacrement.
 
Qwikness said:
So…believe what you want, here’s your ministers license, Just say you belong to our church. Sounds like Unitarian Universalist.
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Not quite.🙂 Takes quite a bit more than that to become a UU minister. We have someone in our congregation going through the process right now and it is taking him several years.

archive.uua.org/programs/ministry/credentialing/preparation/requirements.html

"The basic requirements for UU ministry are:
  • Career assessment program at a career center approved by the Ministerial Fellowship Committee
  • Candidacy status granted by an RSCC
  • Sponsorship by a UU Congregation
  • Master of Divinity degree or its equivalent;
  • Approved internship;
  • Basic unit of Clinical Pastoral Education;
  • Completion of the Reading List;
  • Interview with the Ministerial Fellowship Committee. "
I see the ULC as more of a mocking of the way in which the US has mixed religion and law in terms of who has the right to perform a legal marriage ceremony (ie one that will confer the legal benefits of marriage in this country rather than purely a religious one). Yes, a lot of Neopagans who function as clergy for their groups do use this to get something that the state will recognize so that they can perform legal weddings, hospitals will recognize for clergy visitation, etc.

It isn’t really all that different from the long Christian tradition of shade tree preachers (at least the tradition that I have seen here in the South, though it is admittedly a Protestant one). There is nothing stopping anyone from proclaiming that he or she is a minister and setting up a church. Happens all the time.

Do people make money off of it? I’m sure. They have an online store at the site, IIRC, and I would be very surprised if there aren’t folks who got one of these and make money performing weddings.
 
Qwikness said:
Some guy got busted for trying to say pot was a sacrement.
I guess he had to much of the sacrement.
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That’s actually a pretty serious issue with many Rastafarians, just like sacramental peyote is for some Native American tribes.

The ULC is pretty much up there with the Discordians and SubGenii as a joke church. Oh yes, we are all SubGenii, like it or not (you have to send and pay for their materials to be excommunicated) and I happen to be a Discordian pope because I’ve read the part in the Principia Discordia that says ‘this sentence is your ordination’.

And Publisher, any chance you could tell us the beliefs of the Church of the Infernal Diatribe? It sounds like a hoot 😃
 
The whole thing is bizarre!

I looked at the list of register ministers. I limited the search to just the state I live in and then I just looked at the profiles of those that live in my area.

The beliefs of these register ministers ranged from “none” to “I just believe there is a God” to “Judeo-Christian” to the “universal healing powers of Reiki.”

Huh?? :confused:

Someone said it looks as if you say you are a member of the ULC you can be a minister. I would say that’s true after looking at the wide range of beliefs. However, several of the register ministers just listed themselves as non-denominational. So who knows!
 
Mirdath said:
That’s actually a pretty serious issue with many Rastafarians, just like sacramental peyote is for some Native American tribes.

The ULC is pretty much up there with the Discordians and SubGenii as a joke church. Oh yes, we are all SubGenii, like it or not (you have to send and pay for their materials to be excommunicated) and I happen to be a Discordian pope because I’ve read the part in the Principia Discordia that says ‘this sentence is your ordination’.

And Publisher, any chance you could tell us the beliefs of the Church of the Infernal Diatribe? It sounds like a hoot 😃
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My brother was “smitten” by Anton LaVey’s book the "Satanic Bible.’…He and I were opposite ends of the religious spectrum in the 80’s-90’s. He was a self proclaimed “Satanist” and even payed his money to have his names on the roles of the church in San Francisco…he called himself “a card carrying Satanist”.

All that changed when my mom died of cancer 15 years ago. We had many long discussions on the nature of the Light Within, Light of Christ, Inner Light, Seed of God, that of God in everyone.

It was at this time he said he experienced “the Presence” I had spoken of…he’s not a Friend…but he now calls me “his spiritual guru”…that always makes me smile…there is much we do not agree on…but he is beginning to embrace a peace stance…he now does not view capital punishment as ethical…and the work of the AFSC and other Quaker relief organizations he now respects instead of espousing LaVey’s ideas that kindness, peace and " turning the other cheek" are weak. He’s almost…almost opposed to all war for any reason or pretense…the Seed of God is at work I think.
 
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