Question:

A friend of mine who is a deacon in the church has been asked to perform weddings for members of his family. What does he have to do to legally perform these ceremonies in Alabama?

Rule of Law:

The state law is Section 30-1-7 of the Alabama Code, which states:

Section 30-1-7: Persons authorized to solemnize marriages.

(a) Generally. Marriages may be solemnized by any licensed minister of the gospel in regular communion with the Christian church or society of which the minister is a member; by an active or retired judge of the Supreme Court, Court of Criminal Appeals, Court of Civil Appeals, any circuit court, or any district court within this state; by a judge of any federal court; or by an active or retired judge of probate.

(b) Pastor of religious society; clerk of society to maintain register of marriages; register, etc., deemed presumptive evidence of fact. Marriage may also be solemnized by the pastor of any religious society according to the rules ordained or custom established by such society. The clerk or keeper of the minutes of each society shall keep a register and enter therein a particular account of all marriages solemnized by the society, which register, or a sworn copy thereof, is presumptive evidence of the fact.

(c) Quakers, Mennonites, or other religious societies. The people called Mennonites, Quakers, or any other Christian society having similar rules or regulations, may solemnize marriage according to their forms by consent of the parties, published and declared before the congregation assembled for public worship.

Analysis:

The statutory term “licensed” is somewhat misleading. No ministry registration is required in Alabama because there is no state agency that licenses ministers in that state. The term “license” is best thought as a synonym for “ordained” and relates to the rules of the particular church or religious organization that govern appointing individuals as ministers or preachers.

This matter is further complicated by fact that the churches of Christ do not practice “ordination” in the sense of a special ceremony or formal “ordination” process to make a person a Christian minister. The most common way for a minister in the church to prove that he meets the statutory requirements is to obtain a letter from the elders explaining that the churches of Christ have no centralized authority or binding practice regarding ordination, but affirming that he serves the congregation as a “minister of the gospel” under Scripture. It would probably be helpful if the elders could attest to the fact that the individual devotes a substantial portion of his or her time and abilities to the service of the church (paid or unpaid) but there is no “full-time vocation” requirement under Alabama state law. The minister should keep the letter from his elders recognizing him as such in his personal files. There is no requirement that a minister file the letter with the state.

In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court in Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC affirmed the so-called “ministerial exception,” which protects religious liberty by forbidding the government from second-guessing churches’ decisions about who should be their ministers. Therefore, out of respect for the First Amendment courts should defer to the elders’ determination of ministerial status.

Special Thanks to Melvin Otey for his contribution and help in considering the legal research and answering this question.

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