Ok so i'm a O.C.P?

6th

I'm a spiritual person but dont subscribe to any one church. I was looking around on the net and found an interesting site claiming I could be ordained for free. Intrigued I filled in my information expecting to be moved to a page which asked for my creditcard details - i wasn't! Net thing i know i get an email saying to click a link to verify my details, so i did, expect yet again to be moved to a payment page - i wasn't. One email later i get an email congratulating me and telling me I am now Mark XXXXXX O.C.P (Ordained Clergy Person).

Should it be that easy? Well below is a link to the site - check it out and let me know what you think.

http://www.spiritualhumanism.org/

stevenmu

6th wrote:

Should it be that easy?

Depends on what you're being 'ordained' into, there's no reason I can't just invent my own church and ordain myself, in fact ... wait a second ... there !, I've just ordained myself.

It would be interesting to see if you could marry someone and get the government to recognise it.

6th

According to the website you can, but to get the details you have to buy the official handbook or just contact the government. However it is not a christian based religon so it would not be a christian wedding. They do other ceramonies too but state that it should not be used for exorcisms, animal sacrafices or any illegal acts.

joseph dawton

nice idea I guess but it's hard to take seriously if you can become a priest in 5 mins! I don't think this would be recognised outside the USA anyway.

http://www.electricpublications.com

MeditationMom

The question is, can you now take a cute girl's confessions ...and forgive her for her sins?

It shouldn't be this easy, but then again, this is a free country and we love it-
Is there anyone who can certify me enlightened? I'd like that Indian flavor and could make more money that way in Europe.

Anyway, Dear 6th, thanks for the investigation, this is interesting, and... Congratulations!

6th

i really have to look more into the beliefs and ideas - i can see myself sending them an email and getting de-frocked before long.

MeditationMom

Hi 6th,
I actually just check out that spiritual humanism site where you were ordained. Sure has a very different flavor from this site. My head is spinning. Very raw, American - argumentative, lots of bad language, more passion than patient contemplation and reasoning... very interesting. I hope I don't sound jugdemental - it is not what I mean to say. As a matter of fact I am happy to see those folks are also engaged in a vibrant religious exploration. I did come across a few good points, too, but the price! So much stuff to wade through before you find somehing of value.


I love the good old US of A and the freedom here, but I do feel lucky I stumbled into Ireland for my first experience of a religious forum. It is more peaceful and people take more time to chose their words. It's funny, too, and the passion ceratinly is not lacking either. It is more grounded and directed, if that makes any sense. Maybe it is because there is a nationwide, fundamental religious upbringing and conversation from childhood on, from which to launch one's religious quest. A good basement so to speak, before you build your house.

6th

Oh i think its all bollocks, i just did it to show up how easy it was. My aim was tho raise the question should it be that easy?

I mean 5 minutes to become ordained? I wouldnt mind if it was a piss take but its clearly not.

joseph dawton

Anything that comes that easily is worth nothing. It's part of the rather worrying spirituality by numbers approach which is increasingly popular.
"Not got time to spend 5 years in a seminary? Well with just 5 minutes on-line you can pray and go! With new instant priest (terms & conditions apply)"

It seems unbelievable that spirituality can be hijacked to such a large extent but it has been - just look at the new age movement it's awash with charlatans charging mega bucks, supermarket style gizmos from Native American dreamcatchers to Wiccan ready made wands proliferate. It's all turning it on it's head and missing the whole point but so many are niave enough to actually take what is a pathetic insult seriously.

http://www.electricpublications.com

stormkeeper

6th wrote:

Oh i think its all bollocks, i just did it to show up how easy it was. My aim was tho raise the question should it be that easy?

I mean 5 minutes to become ordained? I wouldnt mind if it was a piss take but its clearly not.

I'm actually "ordained" myself, though I haven't thought about it much to be honest... but the question is quite a valid one. I mean, you could have any nut signing up to that, which is quite a bad thing to be honest...

Dirk Gently

If I were to get ordained could I charge a fee for religious ceremonies and get out of paying tax. I feel this would enhance my spiritual well being as it would free up more time for me to reflect on my spiritual side as I wouldn't be wasting valuable spiritual time working my day job to pay my bills anymore.

Up with getting ordained over the interweb for free and last minute wedding plans which I would make a fortune facilitating. I promise not to discriminate against anyone with used untraceable notes who wishes to get married. If the church wont take you I'm more than happy to provide a reasonably priced service.

Talliesin

"Ordained" means different things to different religious groups and different government bodies of different governments. The lowest common denominator of "ordained" means absolutely nothing whatsoever.

6th

Kennett wrote:

I'm actually "ordained" myself, though I haven't thought about it much to be honest... but the question is quite a valid one. I mean, you could have any nut signing up to that, which is quite a bad thing to be honest...

What are you ordained as?

stormkeeper

6th wrote:

What are you ordained as?

I'm ordained as a Reverend.

I got ordained here: http://www.ulc.net/, I think. ulc.org is down, so I ain't sure any more. They still have my records on file, but living in Ireland. Was entertaining registering again for over here...

Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Life_Church

6th

Kennett wrote:

I'm ordained as a Reverend.

I got ordained here: http://www.ulc.net/, I think. ulc.org is down, so I ain't sure any more. They still have my records on file, but living in Ireland. Was entertaining registering again for over here...

Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Life_Church

So i'm interested to know what this positions means to you?

I did this just to highlight how easy and, in my opinion meaningless, it is but why did you choose to do it in the first place?

stormkeeper

6th wrote:

So i'm interested to know what this positions means to you?

Well, to be honest, it means nothing to me at the moment... but that said, it didn't mean a hell of a lot to me after I realised it wouldn't be able to be sed in Ireland, seeing as there are no churches like that over there.

I did this just to highlight how easy and, in my opinion meaningless, it is but why did you choose to do it in the first place?

I think curiousity motivated me to do it more than anything else, and I figured "why not do it?" I stood to lose nothing from doing so... if there is anything to gain however, I'm not sure on that yet. I'm debating at the moment whether or not to get reordained...

But it does seem to be meaningless for the most part; I mean my beliefs haven't changed as a result of being ordained, and it seems you can get ordained and have any belief that you like!

6th

Not our usual conversations but why would you do it again?

Do you believe in the teaching of that church? From what you seem to be saying you'd be interested in doing it if it gave you "power" over here. If you cant benefit from it you wont get reordained but if you can you will?

Like i said its not our usual conversation but sure whats a bit of a debate between mates

stormkeeper

6th wrote:

Not our usual conversations but why would you do it again?

Well, if it was something valid, I'd strongly consider doing it again. No point in reordaining with something that means nothing in a certain country. As I said before though, it's under debate, so I may not do it again.... but then again, if I already am ordained, then me doing it again isn't doing it again per se, rather I'm just updating my details, as while I am still ordained, the address details for me are incorrect. This does bring up the point that there is no no "again", so logically speaking, I'm not doing it again, just updating my records, which means that for I've ended up disregarding the first part of my answer, and perhaps your question. This is what happens when I end up speaking for a while, I end up travelling in a circle, lol

Do you believe in the teaching of that church?

Well, considering two (if they aren't the only ones) the beliefs of the church are "have your own beliefs" and "do that which is right", I guess I do believe in the teaching of that church, even if I am not an active member of it.

From what you seem to be saying you'd be interested in doing it if it gave you "power" over here.

Well, it's not that I want power, I'd want motivation to practice within the church. I mean, it's all well and good being a part of something, but if you are unable to do anything with/for that something where you are, it seems silly to actually so something within it, because you are then wasting time doing nothing, if that makes sense to you at all?

If you cant benefit from it you wont get reordained but if you can you will?

As I said earlier on, I'm not actually reordaining myself... I'm just updating my contact details, so I think I have effectively made this question a moot issue, seeing as it's not a matter of being reordained, rather just moving address, seeing as I'm already in it, no matter what, or that's what it seems like anyway...

Like i said its not our usual conversation but sure whats a bit of a debate between mates

Indeedy. It's always fun to deviate from the normal run of things anyway, keeps ya on your toes!