Get Ordained Legal Victories
The guiding star of Get Ordained and the Universal Life Church Ministries is that we are all children of the same universe, deserving of the same rights and treatment under the law. But unfortunately, barriers have often sprouted up between equal justice in theory, and equal justice in practice.
Whenever and wherever the rights of our ministers have been threatened, Get Ordained and the Universal Life Church Ministries legal team has stepped up to defend and secure those rights. Whether in the fight for marriage equality, or in the ongoing battle to solidify recognition of online ordination across all 50 states, our goal remains the same: to ensure that all of our ministers enjoy fair treatment, regardless of their identity, creed, or affiliation.
In the past, we have employed legal action to steadfastly defend our members when their ability to perform marriages was challenged by government officials.
One of our most notable legal victories came in the Universal Life Church v. Utah, following the passage of a bill preventing people who had been ordained by mail or via the internet from performing legal wedding ceremonies. In 2002, the Church challenged that this Utah law was unconstitutional, arguing that it amounted to the state determining there were “right ways” and “wrong ways” to get ordained. The case was escalated to a U.S. District Court, which ruled that online ordination is just as legitimate as other avenues that religious organizations use to issue ordination.
In Universal Life Church Monastery Storehouse v. Bobrin, we filed a lawsuit in federal court against Bucks County, Pennsylvania after discovering that one of our ministers was denied authorization to officiate a wedding on the basis of where he received ordination from. The ULC stepped up to challenge this unconstitutional infringement on the rights of an individual seeking to practice their religion, arguing that an ordination issued online should receive the exact same legal treatment as those issued through over avenues. The Universal Life Church Ministries only withdrew this suit after receiving assurances that its ministers were not being discriminated against.
Despite these past successes, there is much progress yet to be made. Unfortunately, certain individuals and institutions still refuse to recognize the legitimacy of the Universal Life Church Ministries and the rights that online ordination confers to its ministers. We view this as a grave injustice, and one we’ll continue to fight to correct.
Our attorneys have sought to do just that in Tennessee, following the passage of a disastrous – and we believe, inherently unjust – law in 2019 that declared any marriages officiated by ministers ordained via the internet to be invalid.
Similar efforts have also been undertaken in Clark County, Nevada to protect the rights of ULC ministers and ensure they are free to perform weddings without restriction.
We have no intention of letting up until the rights of our members have been fully and permanently secured. However, there’s no getting around the fact that such legal actions require significant resources to pursue.
That’s why we have set up the ULC Legal Defense Fund, a place for raising funds to ensure we’re able to continue this important fight. All donations made to the legal defense fund go directly to defending and expanding rights of ULC ministers both in the United States and around the world. If you are able, any assistance you can offer is greatly appreciated by the Church and by its many members who benefit directly from these legal interventions. Please note that donations made to the Universal Life Church Ministries are not tax deductible.
Finally, if you’re curious to learn more about our legal history, make sure to visit ULC Case Law for a more in-depth overview of the many cases the Universal Life Church has been involved in over the years, including many of the important victories we have secured. There you’ll also find a list of cases in which the ULC has been cited or mentioned, as well as a legal blog that covers the latest developments in the courts that may be of interest to the Universal Life Church worldwide community.