NOM

I found a website where you can become an ordained minister for free. You can then officiate weddings. I have no real desire to do weddings, but thought it might be fun to be electronically ordained a minister.
Anyone else done this? Thoughts?

I've done it. Long story short - I was asked to officiate a 'secular ceremony after the couple had been sealed in the temple. The brides family was not Mormon and the Groom's family was. So, to keep it fair, they got married/sealed in the temple in the early AM and no one else attended. They had a secular ceremony for everyone that afternoon.

So, I didn't actually legalize a marriage, but I got my online ordained minister certificate just in case. It was awesome.

Also, I have a TBM cousin that go his online ordained minister certification. He was threatened by his bishop with Excommunication. He was asked by his brother to officiate their wedding. What an honor! My cousin was not a bishop, etc. so he didn't have legal authority to officiate a wedding as an ordained Mormon minister. Not knowing what to and needing to get authorization from Salt Lake County to do the marriage, he got his online ordained minister certification.

Just before the wedding, his bishop found out he had the online ordained minister card and threatened him with a disciplinary court for apostasy of formally joining another church. At this point, he found out he could get a special "1 time use" permit to officiate a wedding as a regular LDS Elder. Ultimately, there was no formal church disciplinary hearings for him, but it was quite the BrewHaHa. When my cousin explained to his Bishop the circumstances, the Bishop didn't care and reported it to the SP.

2bizE wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 09, 2018 10:54 pm

I found a website where you can become an ordained minister for free. You can then officiate weddings. I have no real desire to do weddings, but thought it might be fun to be electronically ordained a minister.
Anyone else done this? Thoughts?

They are legally real and I have two different friends who have done this who subsequently officiated in weddings. It usually takes an additional fee to get registered with a local government records office, but the average government is largely just interested in making sure that marriages are recorded accurately. They are happy to hand out this kind of authority in most cases.

My daughter got hers because the state of Utah refuses to recognize that being a pagan priestess is an ordained minister. Rather than a legal fight about religious discrimination (which it most certainly WAS) so that she could perform marriages within the group she heads. Before that, she was doing the religious hand fasting and they had to find someone to do the legal marriage paperwork. Just last month she did the wedding for her sister. It was beautiful, to have one daughter do the ceremony for my other daughter.

FWIW, that was the technicality they used to excommunicate John Dehlin. The fact that he was an ordained minister for non-LDS entity made him an apostate.

Corsair wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 10, 2018 9:17 am

They are legally real and I have two different friends who have done this who subsequently officiated in weddings. It usually takes an additional fee to get registered with a local government records office, but the average government is largely just interested in making sure that marriages are recorded accurately. They are happy to hand out this kind of authority in most cases.

Yep, you can literally become an ordained minister for the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

(I could see a state like Utah not wanting to actually let an ordained Pastafarian register to perform marriages, but the Pastafarian credentials are just as real as as any other internet-ordained minister...)

wtfluff wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 10, 2018 11:21 am

Yep, you can literally become an ordained minister for the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

You told me I can, so I did. As of 30 seconds ago I am an ordained minister. Anybody need counseling, blessings, exorcism, baptism in marinara, counterfeit marriage? Just let me know.

I want to do this, I have a bucket list item of officiating a wedding.

Hagoth wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 10, 2018 8:24 pm

wtfluff wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 10, 2018 11:21 am

Yep, you can literally become an ordained minister for the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

You told me I can, so I did. As of 30 seconds ago I am an ordained minister. Anybody need counseling, blessings, exorcism, baptism in marinara, counterfeit marriage? Just let me know.

Bwahahaha.

I have heard of people becoming ordained ministers for Church of the Latterday Dude.

Ordination looks pretty easy. Fill out a form and they will e-mail you the certificate, and your good to go.
https://dudeism.com/ordination-form/

Just This Guy wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 11, 2018 8:18 pm

I have heard of people becoming ordained ministers for Church of the Latterday Dude.

Ordination looks pretty easy. Fill out a form and they will e-mail you the certificate, and your good to go.
https://dudeism.com/ordination-form/

Excellent. Now I'm an ordained minister of two churches. I guess I have a new hobby

wtfluff wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 10, 2018 11:21 am

Yep, you can literally become an ordained minister for the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

But is that really equivalent to what you get at the Wizard Training Center in Provo, Utah? If you are super lucky you might even get your hands on the legendary Mission President's Stone found in a locked room in the basement corridors.

Hagoth wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 10, 2018 8:24 pm

wtfluff wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 10, 2018 11:21 am

Yep, you can literally become an ordained minister for the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

You told me I can, so I did. As of 30 seconds ago I am an ordained minister. Anybody need counseling, blessings, exorcism, baptism in marinara, counterfeit marriage? Just let me know.

You'll need a pirate costume to do it right.

Hagoth wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 11, 2018 10:43 pm

Just This Guy wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 11, 2018 8:18 pm

I have heard of people becoming ordained ministers for Church of the Latterday Dude.

Ordination looks pretty easy. Fill out a form and they will e-mail you the certificate, and your good to go.
https://dudeism.com/ordination-form/

Excellent. Now I'm an ordained minister of two churches. I guess I have a new hobby

When you do the process online, do you have to declare a religion or a name of what you are to be called once ordained?

2bizE wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 13, 2018 12:56 pm

Hagoth wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 11, 2018 10:43 pm

Just This Guy wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 11, 2018 8:18 pm

I have heard of people becoming ordained ministers for Church of the Latterday Dude.

Ordination looks pretty easy. Fill out a form and they will e-mail you the certificate, and your good to go.
https://dudeism.com/ordination-form/

Excellent. Now I'm an ordained minister of two churches. I guess I have a new hobby

When you do the process online, do you have to declare a religion or a name of what you are to be called once ordained?

You just give them your name as you want it to appear on the certificate. FSM mails you a certificate for $25, Dudism let you print one for free with option to buy a nicer one.

2bizE wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 09, 2018 10:54 pm

I found a website where you can become an ordained minister for free. You can then officiate weddings. I have no real desire to do weddings, but thought it might be fun to be electronically ordained a minister.
Anyone else done this? Thoughts?

Yep. I was an ordained minister while I was still LDS. I was afraid to do it because brainwashing, but I did. I've never performed weddings, baptisms/christenings, or funerals, but I have a legal certificate on my wall saying I'm an ordained minister.

Hagoth wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 11, 2018 10:43 pm

Excellent. Now I'm an ordained minister of two churches. I guess I have a new hobby

Two? I've wanted to do that, but wondered if it was legal.

Hagoth wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 14, 2018 9:57 am

You just give them your name as you want it to appear on the certificate. FSM mails you a certificate for $25, Dudism let you print one for free with option to buy a nicer one.

I have a friend who is an ordained priest in Dudism. He got the certificate so he could marry a couple of friends.

Hey, now I'm a Dudeist Priest, too! That was so much easier than, you know, that other kind.

Does this now make me officially (more) apostate?

Well, technically the church could excommunicate you for officially joining another church now. If you haven't already resigned. If you are still on the rolls, you could start waving this around and see how long until the call you in.

Just This Guy wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 03, 2019 7:09 am

Well, technically the church could excommunicate you for officially joining another church now. If you haven't already resigned. If you are still on the rolls, you could start waving this around and see how long until the call you in.

I would LOVE to be called into a court of sweet sweet lovin' to be punished for membership in the Church of the Latter-Day Dude. For my defense I would show them The Big Lebowski and see if I could pick up any converts. If not I also have the power to call down noodles of death from heaven.