The Universal Life Church (ULC) is an American non-denominational religious organization founded in 1962 by Kirby J. Hensley,[3][4] under the doctrine: "Do that which is right".

The Universal Life Church advocates for religious freedom, offering legal ordination to become a minister free of charge, to anyone who wishes to join.

The ULC has ordained ministers from a wide range of backgrounds and beliefs, including atheists, Christians, Jews, Neopagans and Wiccans.

[5] The ULC's popularity stems in part from a rising interest in having friends or family officiate weddings, a trend which has attracted a range of celebrities to become ordained including Stevie Nicks, Adele, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ian McKellen,[6] Conan O'Brien, and Steven Tyler.

The Universal Life Church was founded by Kirby J. Hensley, "a self-educated Baptist minister who was deeply influenced by his reading in world religion".

The church's growth was affected in part by social movements; during the Vietnam War, a widely circulated rumor claimed that ordination would qualify one for a legal exemption from the draft.

[24][25] A large number of people seeking ULC ordination do so in order to be able to legally officiate at weddings[7] or perform other spiritual rites.

[25] Following Kirby Hensley's death in 1999, an organizational split led to the creation of the ULC Monastery (ULCM, also using the name Universal Life Church Ministries; now based in Seattle), which remains unaffiliated with the Modesto group.

[5] The ULCM formally split from the ULC in 2006 following financial, legal, and philosophical disputes between the two bodies[27] and began ordaining ministers independently.

[28][29] The U.S. Department of the Army publication, Religious Requirements and Practices: A Handbook for Chaplains, summarized the doctrines of the ULC as follows: The Universal Life Church has only one belief.

The U.S. Army's Handbook for Chaplains also notes that the ULC "has a very loose structure", with those ordained being given "a set of instructions on how to form a congregation", but otherwise operating with complete autonomy.

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.

In 2015, The New York Times wrote that the ULC "pumps out ordinations at an assembly-line pace, almost mocking a process that usually requires years of seminary study".