The Universal Life Church, commonly abbreviated ULC, is a secular religious foundation best known for offering ordination as a ULC minister free of charge. Anyone can become a minister immediately in the church, without any pre=ordination process. The Universal Life Church believes that as a function of one’s right to freedom of religion, everyone already is authorized to preach their beliefs and they are merely giving this fact recognition.

The church has no set doctrines or dogmas, other than their motto “Do what is right.” In accordance with their belief in freedom, each individual has the right and responsibility to determine what is right and wrong in their own lives, as long as they do not infringe upon that same freedom for others.

The four stated directives of the ULC are as follows:

Objective: Eternal Progression.

Goal: A Fuller Life for Everyone.

Slogan: To Live and Help Live.

Maxim: “We Are One.”
As can be seen, none of these interfere with the church’s position on religious and other freedom.

As has been stated, the Universal Life Church offers immediate ordination to anyone without fee, although in practice to get ordained ones application must be confirmed by a human and thus takes several days. Many people have become ministers in the church under the false impression that doing so will give them tax breaks or exemptions from drafts. Both notions are false.

The church was founded in 1959, originally bearing the name “Life Church”, by one Reverend Kirby J. Hensley. After many years of religious study, Hensley concluded that the correct way worship may differ for each person, and founded the principles of his church accordingly. The church has many physical congregations on the West Coast and throughout the United States ans Canada. Theoretically, any ordained minister can perform a wedding in all fifty states. Thus many people have joined the church to provide relief to same sex or interfaith couples whose unions may be denied by more traditional churches.