An ordination mill is a religious organization or denomination in which membership is obtainable by trivial means and all members are qualified for self-ordination as a minister of religion, bishop, priest or deacon without any prerequisite training, work, experience, seminary study or other qualification.
The term is not new; US Library of Congress copyright archives list a Camden, New Jersey, newspaper report of "Clergymen made by mail-order ordination mill for $2 in 2 weeks" from 1927.
In 1970, the US Army's Office of the Chief of Chaplains described ULC Modesto as "like a number of similar 'ordination mill' denominations, it has 'no traditional doctrine' and 'will ordain anyone, for life, for a freewill offering'.
In 2014, Rodney Michael Rogers and Minneapolis-based Atheists for Human Rights sued Washington County, Minnesota under Fourteenth Amendment equal protection of laws and the First Amendment free speech clause, their attorney claiming discrimination against atheists as "When the statute clearly permits recognition of a marriage celebrant whose religious credentials consist of nothing more than a $20 'ordination' obtained from the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster ... the requirement is absolutely meaningless in terms of ensuring the qualifications of a marriage celebrant.
"[15] The case was eventually dismissed for mootness when "Washington County changed its practice and vowed that it would record credentials issued by [Atheists for Human Rights] from that date forward.
This places churches in a privileged position unlike that of colleges and universities, whose accreditation bodies must answer to national or regional education ministries as a condition of maintaining degree-granting status.
Conversely, the degree is mainly awarded in the United States as an honorary title with few (if any) restrictions on its issuance, leading to the adoption of the credential by the Universal Life Church and other perceived ordination mills by virtue of the religious exemption.
[25] Accordingly, a select number of seminaries that offer full degree programs may elect not to pursue accreditation, committing to non-traditional pedagogical methods including the extensive utilization of distance learning.