Robert Kirby would be a great CUFfer

[scottie]

Good column here:
Kirby: Soul searching needn’t always end in strict adherence

According to America’s top churches, religious freedoms are at stake if gay people are allowed to get married. Rice-throwing gays could spell the end of our constitutional rights to worship as we see fit.

Personally, I’ve always believed that marriage in general restricted religious freedoms. If you don’t think so, tell your spouse that you’re not going to church anymore because you want to practice voodoo. See what happens.

Still, I can’t dismiss the idea that married gay people constitute a horrible threat to the plan of salvation. After all, church leaders say so.

There was a time in my life when I let other people be in charge of my religious freedom. Back then, any ideas I had of my own about what God expected were secondary to embracing what I was told by church leaders.

...

[Indy Coug]

I think he's playing fast and loose with the definition of freedom.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I liked this line:

Today, I’m OK with church leaders running the church. That’s their job. But I’m in charge of me. If I’m wrong in what I’m thinking, I’d rather it was my fault than because I let someone else do it for me.

[Clark Addison]

For some reason when I read the title I mixed up Robert Kirby with Kirby Heyborne. Probably because I watched the BYU game this morning and there were several promotions for an upcoming show of "The Best Two Years". Also, I have seen several beer commercials today.

I would be in favor of inviting both Kirbys to our site. I think Robert is a BYU fan, right? I don't know about Heyborne.

[falafel]

I would be in favor of inviting both Kirbys to our site. I think Robert is a BYU fan, right? I don't know about Heyborne.

Heyborne is a Ute.

[Eddie]

I've heard Robert speak. Dude is hilarious. He gets Utah and the culture here and seriously knows how to mess with people. Plus, he was a cop for a while and has some great stories about that.

I wasn't looking forward to attending the meeting he was speaking at - but in the end he was worth the time.

[wally]

I've heard Robert speak. Dude is hilarious. He gets Utah and the culture here and seriously knows how to mess with people. Plus, he was a cop for a while and has some great stories about that.

I wasn't looking forward to attending the meeting he was speaking at - but in the end he was worth the time.

He spoke at an event I attended also. He had everybody ROFL.

He told a story from his cop days in Tooele I think, where someone tried to get out of a speeding ticket by pulling out a TR ('cause they knew that Kirby's boss was the SP). Kirby asked to see the TR, and then either cut it up or told the guy that he had to confiscate it, I can't remember which. Kirby said he got in big trouble for that one, but that it was worth it.

[SoCalCoug]

He was a columnist when I was at BYU (yes, going back to the late 80's). Extremely funny. I thought the linked column was great.

[scottie]

Another decent Kirby column:

Attention Mormons: Beware the persecution complex

I have many a Mormon family member/friend who would benefit from reading/following the advice in that article.

[scottie]

Another Kirby column that I liked:

You don’t need government to rob you of religious freedom. Your family can do that just as well. In fact, you could be doing it yourself.

Do you coerce those you love into attending church? Is your religion something you try to force onto your children even when they’re grown? Do you try to manipulate loved ones back onto the right path through passive-aggressive behavior?

Who made you the faith police?

[myboynoah]

Another Kirby column that I liked:

Who made me the faith police? God made mrs. myboynoah and I the faith police for our family in our view at least until our children leave the house. We're in charge of us.

[scottie]

Another good one from Kirby:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/lifestyle/56178670-80/believe-faith-church-god.html.csp

Doubt and Mormon faith not mutually exclusive

After last week’s column on the miserable job I’m doing obeying the Ten Commandments, a reader suggested it was high time that I renounce my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"You aren’t doing a good job obeying the Articals [sic] of Faith either. Why don’t you leave the church for once and all because you aren’t being a true member if you don’t want to have faith like the rest of us."

It’s true. I don’t want to "have faith like the rest of you." I couldn’t even if I did. I’m not wired that way. Fortunately, I don’t have to be for faith to work.

I sent the woman a copy of LDS apostle Jeffrey R. Holland’s recent conference talk ("Lord, I Believe"), in which he said, "I am not asking you to pretend to faith you do not have. I am asking you to be true to the faith you do have."

If that isn’t recognition that people aren’t the same when it comes to faith, I don’t know what is. What I do know is that it’s OK for me to have doubts as long as I focus on what works for me.

...

[wally]

Another good one from Kirby:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/lifesty...h-god.html.csp

Kirby is the best. I liked this part:

Ironically, I don’t just get this zero tolerance, everybody-the-same, all-or-nothing faith logic from fellow churchgoers.

I also get it from ex-Mormons, non-Mormons, and anti-Mormons, people every bit as insistent on correlating my faith. If I don’t agree with everything at church, why would I believe anything? I should leave with them.

Kirby is exactly where I am at. I am tired of feeling tugged in either direction and am happy to stay where I am. I have found a comfort zone like he describes here:

It took a long time to figure out that faith is a deeply personal matter, and I could drive myself nuts trying to fit someone else’s circus under my tent. So I stopped.

I didn’t stop being faithful. I stopped stressing about the things I didn’t have much faith in and focused instead on what did it for me. It was amazing how fast it took for the rest to matter less.

[The Fourth Nephite]

I thought this was one of his best. I can relate.

[scottie]

Haha:

The reason I poke fun at Mormons revealed