Editing Universal Life Church (section)

==Legal status==
{{Main|Legal status of the Universal Life Church}}

The legitimacy of ULC ordination has been challenged in legal venues, primarily with respect to the questions of whether it constitutes a religious affiliation for tax purposes, and whether ordinations legally permit recipients to perform weddings in various jurisdictions. Lewis notes that the American [[Internal Revenue Service]] has generally assumed a negative predisposition towards the ULC, and has sought to eliminate the organization's tax-exempt status.<ref name="J. R. Lewis"/> A number of legal cases have addressed this question, as well as the ordination question, with varying results.

{{As of|2025}}, all U.S. states recognize ministers of the Universal Life Church as wedding celebrants except for certain counties in Virginia, with litigation with respect to those counties ongoing as of 2025.<ref name="Augusta"/> In those counties, the solemnization of a marriage by a minister of the Universal Life Church (who is not otherwise authorized) may result in questioning of the validity of the marriage.<ref name="cites"/> Historically, such ordinations were more broadly contentious, with Professor Robert Rains, writing in the ''[[University of Miami Law Review]]'' in 2020 that "even a reasonably intelligent (and suspicious) person could be readily misled by the ULC into believing that by becoming a ULC minister he can legally perform marriages throughout the United States, and beyond".<ref>Robert E. Rains, [https://repository.law.miami.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1188&context=umlr ''Marriage in the Time of Internet Ministers: I Now Pronounce You Married, But Who Am I To Do So?''], 64 U. Miami L. Rev. 809, 834 - 35 (2010).</ref> In Canada, ULC ministers are currently not authorized to solemnize marriage in any province or territory.<ref>{{cite news |publisher=Universal Life Church Online |quote=As of this writing, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia do NOT permit ULC ministers to officiate legal marriage ceremonies. |url=http://www.ulc.net/index.php?page=wedding_laws |title=Wedding Laws By State |access-date=January 10, 2018 |archive-date=January 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180110174320/http://www.ulc.net/index.php?page=wedding_laws |url-status=dead }}</ref> In places where being a ULC minister does not legally authorize a person to solemnize marriages, ULC ministers intending to do so must also meet other requirements, which might include registering as a [[notary public]], [[justice of the peace]], or [[marriage commissioner]].