Email: info@ulccaselaw.com
ULC Case Law
1629 K Street NW, Ste 300
Washington, D.C. 20006
The following downloadable documents are meant to help Universal Life Church ministers with issues related to religious law or the legal status of their ordination or by educating them on pragmatic topics concerning the things ULC ministers do with their ordinations (perform wedding, funeral and baptismal ceremonies, start their own ministries and work as chaplains).
These downloads are PDFs, meaning that you will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view them on your computer. Click here to download Adobe Acrobat Reader if you do not already have it.
Universal Life Church ministers occasionally start their own churches in order to lead a congregation, create bible study groups and form a religious nuclei within their communities. To help our ministers launch their own ministries, the ULC has put together a small yet helpful collection of documents that will make their workload just a little bit lighter. Please note that additional educational materials and paperwork will need to be gathered and filed; the forms contained within this PDF are not all that a Universal Life Church minister needs to start a church.
This PDF contains samples of the following kinds of documents:
Articles of Incorporation
Church By-Laws
Conflict of Interest Policy
Click here to download the Ministry Launch Forms Packet
Note: do not assume that these documents are legally-binding or exactly what you need to start a church. Always make sure to clear the accuracy and validity of these documents, and all other documents the ULC issues, with government officials or a lawyer. These documents do not constitute legal counsel or advice on the part of the Universal Life Church Monastery.
One or more of the newlyweds will likely change their names after every wedding you perform so you should forward this name change guide to them.
Legal name changes quickly follow most marriages, and it is always a kind gesture for the person who solemnizes a marriage to help out with the headache-inducing process of making them. To assist ULC wedding officiants with aiding newlyweds whose weddings they have performed, the Universal Life Church Monastery has created a concise yet helpful name change guide; our ministers should feel free to download and forward this guide as frequently as they perform weddings.
Click here to download the ULC Name Change Guide.
Please send the ULC any materials that you find or prepare yourself that would be beneficial and relevant additions to this guide.
There are a number of tasks that couples must complete after they marry in addition to making legal name changes; some of these tasks are things that ULC ministers can help with. Let us know if any of your couples have requested assistance with any of these pragmatic topics and the Universal Life Church Monastery will gladly prepare guides for them.
What is the legal definition of a religion in the United States? When you strip away the ideology and tax benefits, religion is simply an organization of people who agree to come together and follow certain rules. With this simplistic view, an obvious question often arises among so-called non-believers: Why can’t I create my own religion and Read More
There is a fierce debate in many religious communities about LGBTQ issues, and the United Methodist Church (UMC) is certainly no exception. Due to the unique legal structure of the UMC, this debate is triggering a serious fracture within the church – one that is causing many individual congregations to leave. The process of leaving Read More
Catholicism is one of the strictest religions on the planet, and it has a history of excommunicating segments of the population (or entire nations, as the English can attest). There are reportedly 62 million Catholics in the United States and not all of these individuals always see eye-to-eye with the Vatican. A certain degree of controversy is Read More
While religious organizations in the United States enjoy many financial freedoms and exceptions, these organizations still run the risk of serious consequences if they operate in an unlawful manner. This was made clear after two religious organizations in the United States were accused of financial crimes. Christian University Accused of Financial Crimes over Tuition Tuition Read More
The Biden Administration has prided itself on embracing diversity, appointing a wide range of individuals to key government positions. One of the inescapable realities of diversity is not only the variations in skin color or religion but also variable points of view. What happens when government employees begin fighting among themselves over divisive issues like Read More