Terms and Conditions of Use

Our church changes constantly, so we may amend these Terms from time to time - and you agree to all amendments. These Terms were last revised on January 12, 2015. If these Terms are changed, we will post a notice for 5 weeks.

By Visiting our website or by using our services, you agree to these Terms and Conditions of Use.

1. About These Terms and Conditions

a. Why You Should Read

These Terms and Conditions govern the use of this website and the content located herein. It establishes important guidelines regarding the areas of this site which the general public may access and the acceptable behavior in those respective areas. Additionally, it provides information about the ways in which content may be submitted to the site and the ways in which this content may be altered.

b. Who is Publishing These Terms and Conditions?

These Terms and Conditions were produced by the Universal Life Church Monastery (herein referred to as “the ULC”, “the Church”, “we”, or “our”) to govern how this website might be appropriately accessed and utilized by its visitors (herein referred to as “you” or “your”).

The Universal Life Church Monastery is an international religious organization dedicated to promoting freedom of religion around the globe. While the ULC provides many traditional religious services, it is most often recognized for its provision of ministerial ordinations over the internet.

c. Other Terms You Should Read

The Universal Life Church Monastery has also, for your convenience and information, published both a Privacy Policy and a Shipping/Return Policy. We encourage you to review these policies before submitting any of your information or placing any orders to ensure you understand the ways in which your information will be used and the systems in place to ensure that your order makes it to your door on-schedule and in good condition.

2. Who Owns This Content?

2.a. All of the content on this site, including all text, graphics, logos, images, audio clips, and data, is the sole property of the Universal Life Church Monastery. All trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights (whether or not these have been registered) are the exclusive property of the Universal Life Church Monastery, are protected by US and International copyright and trademark laws, and may be protected as trade dress, common law, and other relevant intellectual property and proprietary rights and laws. The ULC reserves all of its rights in this content and no part of these Terms and Conditions grants any user the license or right to utilize any of the content on this site, unless expressly authorized in writing by the ULC.

3. How You Can Contribute

3.a. Frequently, the Universal Life Church Monastery will invite you to contribute to our site as part of our effort to build and maintain a global faith community by utilizing the collaborative power of the internet. Your contribution could occur in several different areas of our website and may include photos, text, graphics, audio, or video.

3.b. By submitting any of the aforementioned materials, regardless of form, you agree that the Church may reasonably utilize your contribution (without compensating you for such use) anywhere in the world. Further, you agree that any material that you contribute to the ULC is subject to moderation and may be reviewed, edited, and/or removed from the site. The ULC reserves the right to remove any contributed material if it believes that it is not in compliance with the guidelines set forth in these Terms and Conditions.

3.c. Your submission of materials and implicit agreement with the aforementioned permissions does not terminate any existing copyright you may have over the work submitted. As the owner of these materials you may continue to utilize them privately and you may exercise your right to share these materials with other organizations or individuals.

3.d. By submitting materials of any form you affirm that those materials are your own work and that you are authorized to publish and share these materials. Your submission of these materials may not violate the rights of any other individuals and must be in full compliance with the guidelines set forth in these Terms and Conditions.

3.e. Content available through this site, such as the comments left on blog postings, often represents the opinions and judgments of an information provider, site user, or other person or entity not connected with us. We do not endorse, nor are we responsible for the accuracy or reliability of, any opinion, advice, or statement made by anyone other than an authorized Universal Life Church Monastery Storehouse spokesperson speaking in his/her official capacity.

3.f. As we process and moderate your contribution, we may, at times, need to contact you in relation to your material submission. For a more complete discussion of how and when we might contact you directly, please see our Privacy Policy.

3.g. In the process of generating material to submit to the ULC or submitting materials to the ULC, we request that you not break any laws or put your life or person at unnecessary risk.

4. Your Legal Obligations per these Terms

4.a. You are solely responsible for any of the charges incurred as a result of your visiting any part of this website or downloading any of the content made available therein. If your internet service provider charges you as a result of the amount of data you connect to or download while visiting this site you, the visitor, are solely responsible for paying these charges.

5. Questions and Concerns

5.a. If you have any questions or concerns about any of the elements of our Terms of Use described above, we would invite you to contact our office by sending a message to our support team at help@themonastery.org or calling us, during our regular business hours, at 2062851086.

5.b. If you have a more general question about the Universal Life Church and its ordinations and products, you may find that these are answered on our Frequently Asked Questions page. If you have a question about how we collect and use information, you may find that the answer to this is located in our Privacy Policy. If you have a specific question about our policies related to shipping or returns, you may find an answer in our Shipping and Returns Policy.

6. DMCA Notice

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, as amended, ("DMCA") provides recourse for copyright owners who believe that material appearing on the Internet infringes their rights under United States copyright laws. Other laws may provide similar protection. If you believe that we are infringing on your copyright, please notify our DMCA Copyright Agent of your complaint and a requirement that such content be removed or blocked, as set forth in the DMCA. Please consult the DMCA to confirm these requirements. You must provide our DMCA Copyright Agent with the following information in writing, to the extent required by the DMCA: (a) an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner that is allegedly infringed; (b) identification of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed (or, if multiple copyrighted works on a site are covered by a single complaint, a representative list of the allegedly infringing works on the site); (c) identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing and to be removed, and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material on our Site; (d) information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact the complaining party, such as your address, telephone number and e-mail address; (e) a written statement by you that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law; and (f) a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice and complaint is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf. Please be aware that the foregoing information in your complaint may be forwarded to the person who provided the allegedly infringing content. The foregoing information must be submitted to our DMCA Copyright Agent as follows:
Universal Life Church Monastery Storehouse
2720 1st Ave S
Seattle, WA 98134

7. Electronic Communications

When you use our websites and services, or send e-mails to us, you are communicating with us electronically. You agree and consent to receive communications from us electronically. We will communicate with you by e-mail or by posting notices on this site. You agree that all agreements, notices, disclosures and other communications that we provide to you electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing.

8. Disclaimer of Warranties

ALL DATA, INFORMATION, AND CONTENT MADE AVAILABLE ON OUR WEBSITES ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS, UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED IN WRITING. THE CHURCH MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDNG THE DATA, INFORMATION, OR CONTENT INCLUDED ON OR OTHERWISE MADE AVAILABLE ON OUR WEBSITES. YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITES IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE CHURCH DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE CHURCH DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE DATA, INFORMATION, AND CONTENT INCLUDED ON OR OTHERWISE MADE AVAILABLE TO YOU, OR ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS SENT BY THE CHURCH, ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. THE CHURCH WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OF ANY KIND ARISING FROM THE USE OF ANY DATA, INFORMATION AND CONTENT, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, AND CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED IN WRITING.

9. Disputes

Any dispute, controversy, claim, cause of action (whether based in contract or tort, or by statue or code, or otherwise) issue, demand, or damage related to or arising from your use of our website, products, and services, including ordination, or from the data, information and content on our websites (collectively a “Dispute”), will be resolved through binding arbitration and not in Court, except for an action that is properly filed in Small Claims Court, King County District Court. You and We expressly waive any right to trial by a Court or by jury. An arbitrator, however, may award the same damages and relief as a Court could, and must follow these Terms and Conditions. You and We will agree upon a mutual arbitrator, and if we cannot then we agree to one employed and appointed by Judicial Dispute Resolution, LLC, Seattle, WA. Arbitration shall be held in Seattle, King County, WA, and you agree to, and waive any defense or objection to, this location.
All parties have the right, at their own expense, to be represented by an attorney or spokesperson of their own choosing. Each side shall bear their own fees, costs, and expenses, including one half of all arbitration fees. However, we will pay all of the Arbitrator’s fees if the Arbitrator makes a specific finding, upon a sworn affidavit by you with actual proof, that you are without the financial means to pay your share of the arbitration fees. The arbitration shall be completed within one hundred twenty (120) days of agreement to or appointment of the Arbitrator. The Arbitrator may grant a reasonable continuance upon good cause shown. The Award shall be reasoned and should be rendered within thirty (30) days of closure of the arbitration proceedings. Discovery shall be expeditiously completed within three (3) months of agreement to or appointment of the Arbitrator. Each party shall produce relevant non-privileged documents requested by the other party. Discovery procedures available in court actions do not apply. The Arbitrator should grant depositions and/or other written discovery upon a showing of need. All discovery disputes shall be promptly submitted to and promptly resolved by the Arbitrator.

10. Notice of Dispute

If you have any claim or cause of action, or you believe there is a Dispute between us, we encourage you to submit it to us promptly so we have the opportunity to address it and correct it with you. Any Dispute you have shall be filed within one (1) year from the earlier of the date the Dispute arose or occurred or the date when you should have learned of the facts giving rise to the Dispute, even if you did not appreciate or know the full extent of any damages. You expressly waive any different statute of limitation or time bar, both legal and equitable. Either you or we may submit a Dispute to arbitration by providing written notice to the other, with such notice containing the following: (a) your or our correct legal name and physical address, (b) the nature of the Dispute and the facts giving rise to the Dispute, (c) the damages and remedy sought, and (d) pertinent documentation regarding the Dispute. Thereafter, we and you will attempt in good faith to resolve the matter, and if not submit the matter to Arbitration for binding resolution.

11. Applicable Law

We and You agree that the Federal Arbitration Act, as applicable, and the laws of the state of Washington, without regard to principles of conflict of laws, will govern any dispute that may arise between us (including a “Dispute” as defined herein) and these Terms and Conditions of Use.
To the extent of any legal action filed in Court involving the Church, except for a small clams action, whether to confirm or challenge an award or ruling in arbitration, to challenge these Terms and Conditions or the validity or enforceability of any term or provision, or otherwise, you and we agree that venue shall be in King County Superior Court, Seattle, WA. You and We agree to the jurisdiction of that Court over our persons and the subject matter, and waive any defense or objection to either the jurisdiction or location, whether for inconvenience or otherwise.
A small action shall be filed in King County District Court, and you agree to the jurisdiction of that Court over you and the subject matter, and waive any defense or objection to the jurisdiction or location.

12. Waiver of Class Action

We and You both agree that neither of us shall have the right to participate as a class representative or class member with respect to any disputes between us (including a “Dispute” as defined herein), and also waive any right to assert consolidated claims with respect to any Disputes subject to arbitration under this Agreement or any dispute between the parties

13. Severability

These Terms and Conditions shall survive the termination of your use of our products and services, your ordination, and your use of our websites. If any portion of these Terms and Conditions is deemed invalid or unenforceable, the remaining portions shall nevertheless remain in force.