Why I am "Reverend" Jan*
This question has been asked of me many times now, and I thought to make things
simpler, I'd outline my reasoning here:
- Why I decided to become a minister:
- My primary motivation was, I must admit, rather juvenile. I simply liked
the sound of "Reverend Jan."
- Secondary to that was the marriage premise: if I became a minister, I
could some day legally marry couples who might not otherwise find the right
person for their atheological tastes, and I would like to fill that void.
- The tertiary reason was this: I have been told a gazillion times by numerous,
otherwise-intelligent people that "atheism is a religion". Atheism is NOT
a religion, for reasons that may be found here, and I thought the idea of
an atheist minister would illustrate that absurdity rather well. Essentially,
I hope that people will think that my self-bestowed title of "High Priestess
of Atheism" is completely ludicrous (because it is) and therefore realize,
even subconsciously, that it is equally ludicrous to claim that atheism
is a religion.
- How I became a minister:
- This is an amazingly easy (and cheap!) procedure -- just visit the
Universal Life Church's web site and
sign yourself up!
- You can print out your "minister credential" right at their site, and
once you are registered with them, you are legally considered a minister,
capable of starting your own church and everything.
- The legality of the ULC has held up in court decisions, so don't worry
about that.
- However, you may start receiving their newsletter, which is very
peculiar, so don't say I didn't warn you -- they aren't selective about
their membership by design, and sometimes it shows.
That's pretty much the whole story. If you have other questions that I or
the ULC can't answer, send me an email with
your questions.
* This is a really old page -- dating back to 1996 or 1997
when I first put up my webpage. People change in 10 years, and while I'm still
an atheist, I no longer see the point in baiting theists or the like. I stopped
going by "Reverend Jan" several years ago, though some of my web identities --
mainly my Yahoo ID -- retain the title because I can't seem to change it -- but
it's not how I self-identify anymore. It is juvenile and unprofessional, which
is why it's gone by the wayside... although if someone brings up the old "Atheism
is a religion" thing, I'll certainly tell them I'm its high priestess for fun
:)
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