May 14

How to become a minister

Category: Uncategorized

So this morning, I decided to test the parodies on shows like SNL and Simpsons about how easy it is to get ordained as a minister online. Apparently its ridiculously easy.

I typed in to Google, “ordained minister”, and got a bunch of search results leading me to various websites.

I filled out a few forms, and I am now the proud ordained minister of not one, not two, but four churches.

Churches:

  • Universal Life Church
  • Spiritual Humanism (Not legal in Canada)
  • Temple of Earth
  • Church of Dude-ism

The reason Spiritual Humanism isn’t legal in Canada is because it is not recognized as a religion, because it does not worship a deity.

Fill out the forms, print out the certifications(or pay in the case of Spiritual Humanism). I did find about 3-4 more sites that asked money before ordination would be done, and decided not to send money to some random site on the internet.

As Dan of compsci.ca points out, most places in Canada still won’t accept these certificates, but it depends on which province you are in. Get familiar with the marriage laws for your area before you perform a ceremony.

Frankly, the ease of the ordination makes an unfortunate mockery of real ordained ministers that have studied for years and worked hard to achieve their title. Such organizations cheapen the title “Reverend” and whatever else they wish to put before your name.

Edit: As Troff asked, there is now a link to Spiritual Humanism. And I was mistaken, it wasn’t transhumanism, but humanism.

7 comments

7 Comments so far

  1. Anthony Aziz May 14th, 2009 2:14 pm

    Make sure you sign everything as “Reverand” now.

  2. Anthony Aziz May 14th, 2009 2:14 pm

    With the “and” ending, obviosuly…

  3. Troff May 14th, 2009 4:21 pm

    Sorry, would you be so kind as to include the link to the Spiritual Transhumanism ordination page, please? Googling for the phrases “ordained minister” and “Spiritual transhumanism” don’t seem to provide relevant hits… except for your own blog post now. For some odd reason, that seems to be Google-ranked FIRST, now. :-)

  4. Rev. Lee May 15th, 2009 7:30 am

    I think real ministers make a mockery of ministers already, and they did so long before the internet.

  5. Zeroth May 15th, 2009 1:38 pm

    @Rev.Lee I guess it all depends on one’s different beliefs. But the real irony is that most ministers are far more accepting than you. ;) They at least are willing to accept atheists and scientists, while atheists just can’t seem to resist poking fun(whether it is deserved or not) of religions.

  6. Rev. Lee May 15th, 2009 3:45 pm

    “But the real irony is that most ministers are far more accepting than you.”

    I didn’t refuse to accept anyone in my last post so I’m not sure what you’re talking about. I am a Minister and so is my father, by the way.

    “They at least are willing to accept atheists and scientists, ”

    That’s a blanket statement that is incredibly inaccurate. If ministers accepted, say, gays then where is the opposition to gay marriage coming from? Moreover, all I did was point out the reality that people have, and continue to, lose “faith” in organized religion and most of it is the fault of the people running the churches.

  7. Zeroth May 15th, 2009 6:36 pm

    @Rev.Lee Sorry, I was mistaken. I had assumed you were a yet another atheist trying to use this story to poke fun at organized religions in general. Thats my mistake for making assumptions. :)

    For the record, I myself am a neutral atheist, seeing no point in attacking religions in specific or general. :)