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April Young Bennett recently had to leave her position as a board member of Ordain Women in order to keep her LDS Church temple recommend.

Under pressure from her local ecclesiastical leadership, Bennett had to choose between attending the temple marriage of her brother and her involvement in a movement that seeks to have women ordained to the all-male LDS priesthood.

Since then, Bennett has received both support for putting her family first and condemnation for selling out her personal beliefs.

I'm in the first camp, of putting family ahead of personal beliefs. And I readily admit to being a complete and total sellout.

Lots of things can make me willingly sell out. My wife is first. The list of stuff I really want to do but don't because she'll get mad is currently 1,351 items long. Up from 196 when we got married.

Other people who can make me sell out include (in descending order) my grandkids, daughters, mother, the police, judges, neighbors, Sonny (some of the time), Sonny's wife, my editor, and just about anyone with a gun. Coming in around number 36 is my church.

For example, I truly and deeply believe there's no better way to liven up Mormon meetings than by forcing speakers to wear shock collars. I have long advocated for it. But I'd sell out and stop doing it if the bishop threatened to take away my job in the ward nursery.

It's a genetic condition. Selling out­ — or trading off — is the foundation of human self-preservation. You're a sellout as well. If you don't think so, then you're an ignoramus in the bargain.

Is there a reason why you tell everyone else what a waste of oxygen the boss is but won't tell him/her? You bet. All people compromise their beliefs or behavior if they care about the fallout.

Anyway, back to me being a religious sellout. When news of Bennett's trade-off became known, a couple of guys in my neighborhood (and therefore my LDS ward) wanted to know if I was going to shut up now about ordaining women.

Columns I wrote in the past clearly established my position on ordaining women as an intractable. "It's OK with me if women have the priesthood."

The guys now wanted to know whether the Spirit — if not the example made of Bennett — had convinced me to back off.

I replied that for me, it was more a matter of practicality than spirituality. It was impossible for me to imagine a bunch of Mormon pioneer women sitting around knitting when one of them suddenly has a burst of inspiration.

"I know! Let's convince our husbands that the Lord wants them to have a bunch of brother-husbands."

Mountain Meadows, racially determined priesthood, bank failures, blood atonement, going to war with the U.S. government, # %@* neckties — I'm pretty sure the Relief Society wasn't heavily involved in any of that. So how could women possibly screw things up worse?

But that's just my way of saying that ordaining women is OK with me while at the same acknowledging that it's not up to me.

If my church wants me to stop doing something — anything — just threaten me with a four-hour block of meetings and I'll quit doing it. At least until I get bored again.

Robert Kirby can be reached at rkirby@sltrib.com or facebook.com/stillnotpatbagley. Find his past columns at http://www.sltrib.com/lifestyle/kirby/