Universal Life Church

I would have to guess so since he is a chaplain. although i have not personally check. He made no secret of where he was ordained. He was even the Chaplain that re-married my wife and I.

 

Please ask him and post back here regarding how he was recognized. My understanding is that the Veterans Administration list below is identical to NCMAF.

http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/ViewPublication.asp?pub_ID=335

ULC is not on the list and you cannot (to my knowledge) be a Chaplain in the military without the endorsement of a NCMAF recognized denomination and there are no exceptions that I am aware of. None. Did someone slip up with him and mix it up with Unitarian or Unity??

North

 

I dont serve with him, i was assigned with a unit that was that was near my wife's family otherwise i would ask him.

that being said here is a link from the navy that says quite a bit

https://www.cnet.navy.mil/sscsweb/sscs/docs/faithgrp.doc

nothing strictly precludes the ULC from what i can read.

its mostly based on 1. having a otherwise qualified Can. and a need for a particular faith. He was christian, so realistically he would fall under the that.

 

Frankly, I am shocked and quite surprised.

The government maintaining a list of officially recognized religious denominations seems to me to be a clear violation of the establishment clause of the constitution. I suspect that this policy could be successfully challenged in court if anyone was motivated to do so.

(How do they manage all those independent Baptist churches?)

Selecting denominations based on the religious needs of the personnel that the chaplains are being hired to serve would accomplish pretty much the same goals as the current policy, without putting the government into the uncomfortable position of deciding which religious denominations are legitimate and which aren't.

So just poll the troops on their religious affiliations and then hire chaplains accordingly. Let the troops decide what they want.

 

I have been ordained by the ULC for over four years.

I take my duties seriously and give alot of free time to charity. Not because it 'makes me feel better', but because I want to put something back.

 

It's not spam you donkey...Amy's defending her own corner here.

 

Re: ULC

If the post is still open, you have a right to reply.

If you didn't have a right to reply, the supposed administrators would have closed the thread.

 

JDCUSAF,

The Navy also requires that the denomination is recognized by NCMAF. I suspect that your friend may have been Unitiarian Universalist (which is recongized) but unless someone made a big mistake he was not in the military Chaplaincy based on a ULC endorsement which would have been totally meaningless. The Army, Navy, Air Force, USAF Auxiliary- Civil Air Patrol, VA all use the same list.

Bill,

The NCMAF list is very generous and recongizes everyone from Christian Science, LDS, Islamic Endorsers, Budhists, etc. It is simply a gatekeeper to ensure that the denominations meet some requirements and are able to interface with the DoD and fulfill their obligations. Don't know the exact procedures for getting on the list but they are not discriminatory to my knowledge.

Now on another topic there have been law suits by Evangelical Christian Chaplains in the military who have claimed that the Navy and other services are biased against Evangelicals even though they make up the majority of Protestant troops and in favor of liturgical Protestants. They lost the suit if I recall correctly. But when I was active duty there was a standard joke about the "Lutheran Mafia" (ie clergy) having control of many plum assignments. Don't know whether it was anything more than just a joke or misperception. Nonetheless the concner obviously crossed service barriers and lead to a law suit.
One denomination was invovled in the suit in particular (cannot remember the name....Free Gospel???).

North

 

Was this the Wisconson Synod Mafia?

Sorry, Janko. A slight lapse in sanctification...............

 

Hi rude person, welcome to the forum.

Advertising one's schools here is against the TOS. Also resurrecting really old threads causes confusion. Defending one's own dirty little corner is fine. As a matter of fact, I personally enjoy helping to clean up such dirty little corners.

Regards,
Bill

P.S. If you meant the donkey comment as a compliment then I retract my statement that you're a rude person.

 

ncmaf is not the approving authority since they are a private org. The AFCB is the ONLY approving authority.

This Capt was ULC. not anything else, He is now a regularly ordained Lutheran Minister, but at that time was ULC only.

And there is/was a ULC minister that was a Chaplain in the CAP as well. I beleive his name was Robert Fike.

Really the only way to know for certian is to contact the AFCB.

 

JDCUSAF,

Here is an Air Force site that states that the list of endorsers is maintained by NCAMF.

http://www.usafhc.af.mil/Attachments/Recruiting/faq.doc+%22National+Conference+on+MInistry+to+the+Armed+Forces%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

You say he was ULC. Frankly, I do not believe it unless he got in under some glitch. You have provided no proof. ULC is not on the list of EVAC/NCMAF and this is the list that the Armed Forces uses. Maybe he is now a Lutheran because the ULC was an error that got caught but based on the intimate knowledge I have, I would find it **highly** surprising that he got in with ULC. I also find it highly surprising that he went from ULC to a mainline denomination.

As for the CAP Chaplain. That according to the ULC site did occur but they never mentioned any more than (was it in the 70's) he became a CAP Chaplain. I can tell you that categorically that would never happen again and we never hear that he went on *under ULC* to stay in the CAP as a Chaplain or progress in rank. As I say, CAP uses *NCMAF* recognized endorsers as does the Armed Forces and ULC is not on the list. Sounds to me that it was an error that was caught.

Until you can demonstrate that ULC is a recognized denomination
I will continue to doubt because it goes against the facts that I know very well.

Now, is it possible that ULC in the future could become an endorser...certainly.

North

 

You seem to be confusing that the approval authority and maintaining the list of those already approved are totally differant subjects.

you only quoted part of that FAQ (the part that agreed with you). They also per that same FAQ use The National Association of Evangelicals, the Associated Gospel Churches, and the Chaplaincy Full Gospel Churches are Christian “umbrella” group endorsers. These group endorsers work with applicants from small or independent churches or denominations.

This could and prob was the method used by the Chaplain i know before being ordained by a mainstream faith. Now i make no claim as to whether it was a mistake when he was admitted. I just know the fact that he was commissioned as a chaplain with only a ULC ordaintion at the time of commissioning.

And as far as demostrating anything, that is not my job. I presented what i know to be a fact. Now if it was a fact by error, is not of my concern as i am neither in his chain of command nor have a real need to know. I know of atleast 2 people that have ULC listed as thier denomination on their records which since it was allowed would suggest recognization to some degree.

For all i know, he could have been commissioned with the ULC ordaination pending his ordaination with the Lutheran church. Since he is/was a member of the reserves, which often has waivers for many things that the active component does not.

As to the ULC becoming a registered endorser, its just a matter of having an otherwise qualified member (educationally, physically etc), and there being a need for that particular "flavor" of pastor.

but i digress we have severly gotten off topic.

 

Sigh....I know you do not understand but I know the process.
Yes NAE, Full Gospel are umbrella endorsers and no they did not recognize ULC either. NAE has a series of denominations under them ULC is not one of them.

Never mind. ULC is not recognized period.

My point here is for anyone considering the military, please do not assume that recommendation from ULC will get you into the military. My understanding is that ULC clergy cannot even perform weddings in some states.

Have people not gotten their dogs ordained with the ULC.

Hey....this could be a sideline for my pooch. I can see the money flowing in now.

North

 

I know of no state that does not allow ULC to perfrom marriages.

NYC does not allow it though.

And you cant legally ordain your dog, since your dog can not make the decision to become ordained. Basically the legal key to ULC's ordainment process. Infact the one ULC site specifically says you cant ordain animals. People have done it but it doesnt make it legal.

ROFLMAO, i do believe i do understand the process quite well actually. But yet again i will remind you this is totally off topic.