Do you consider being ordained online to be respectable?

[Angel_Hazard]

As a Catholic I understand the Catholic standpoint on this topic. But a protestant friend of mine become ordained online which has sparked my curiosity about how other faiths view online ordination. He was ordained online through the Universal Life Church and has preformed weddings. He also carries an ID card and badge with him. According to what I have been the badge is meant to be worn at hospitals. Just I have to wonder how a badge reading “clergy ULC” is helpful at a hospital? Do Non-Catholics view those ordained online in such high regards?

 

[babylonsfalling]

As a Catholic I understand the Catholic standpoint on this topic. But a protestant friend of mine become ordained online which has sparked my curiosity about how other faiths view online ordination. He was ordained online through the Universal Life Church and has preformed weddings. He also carries an ID card and badge with him. According to what I have been the badge is meant to be worn at hospitals. Just I have to wonder how a badge reading “clergy ULC” is helpful at a hospital? Do Non-Catholics view those ordained online in such high regards?

It’s easy…go to this site…takes less than five minutes.
And guess what…you don’t even have to show any type of qualifications.

themonastery.org/

 

[MarkThompson]

As a Catholic I understand the Catholic standpoint on this topic. But a protestant friend of mine become ordained online which has sparked my curiosity about how other faiths view online ordination. He was ordained online through the Universal Life Church and has preformed weddings. He also carries an ID card and badge with him. According to what I have been the badge is meant to be worn at hospitals. Just I have to wonder how a badge reading “clergy ULC” is helpful at a hospital? Do Non-Catholics view those ordained online in such high regards?

No, of course not; it is a joke. It’s like having a knighthood or a college degree that you got by clicking a button on a website.

The only difference is that, due to tradition, states permit religious ministers to solemnize marriages, and due to the First Amendment the government does not take it upon itself to decide which religions are real and serious and which are shams. So you can apply to celebrate marriages with a nonsense online “one-click ordination,” whereas you couldn’t apply for a government job with a nonsense online “one-click college degree.”

 

[ConstantineTG]

No, of course not; it is a joke. It’s like having a knighthood or a college degree that you got by clicking a button on a website.

The only difference is that, due to tradition, states permit religious ministers to solemnize marriages, and due to the First Amendment the government does not take it upon itself to decide which religions are real and serious and which are shams. So you can apply to celebrate marriages with a nonsense online “one-click ordination,” whereas you couldn’t apply for a government job with a nonsense online “one-click college degree.”

Of course it would be a mortal sin for a Catholic to do so.

 

[gcnuss]

I doubt seriously that any major Christian denomination – which has standards and educational requirements for eligibility for ordination – would recognize these on-line “ordinations” as valid.

As far as people with such “ordinations” performing marriage ceremonies, it’s not much different from being married by a justice of the peace. It gets the job done in the civil sense.

 

[Angel_Hazard]

Thank you all for your replies. I’m very curious about how others view those who have been ordained online, it just seems very odd to me.

 

[TimothyH]

Six month mail-order pastors are quite common down here in the deep south.

Heck, all you have to do is start a home based Church and begin intepreting scripture for yourself and you are automatically your own Pope.

Seriously though, some of the pastors of larger Churches, once they get two or three locations and a few pastors working under them, simply give themselves the title of Bishop.

-Tim-

 

[SteveVH]

It use to be match book covers. Ah, the wonders of technology.

 

[Holly3278]

No, not really.

 

[CMatt25]

I’ve seen this before. Seems like just a way to perform weddings in some states and I suppose walking into a hospital with a badge. I’ve wondered how much the ULC then hounds the person for money afterwards.

 

[JeanMichel]

As a Catholic I understand the Catholic standpoint on this topic. But a protestant friend of mine become ordained online which has sparked my curiosity about how other faiths view online ordination. He was ordained online through the Universal Life Church and has preformed weddings. He also carries an ID card and badge with him. According to what I have been the badge is meant to be worn at hospitals. Just I have to wonder how a badge reading “clergy ULC” is helpful at a hospital? Do Non-Catholics view those ordained online in such high regards?

I would find it hard to believe that people really value this type of designation once it is discovered. Until then, the poser is free to act as he chooses be it for good or evil. I cannot call it ordination; it is impossible to achieve over the internet regardless of what people say.