Attending wedding would go against my beliefs

DEAR HARRIETTE: I was invited to my co-worker’s wedding.

Harriette Cole 

I have a great relationship with him, and I support him 100%. We work well together and have developed a friendship over the years. I feel like I am very accepting of him the way he is, even though he is different from me.

The problem is that my co-worker will be entering a same-sex marriage, and homosexuality goes against my beliefs as a Christian.

I don’t want to betray my religion and beliefs by attending a wedding like this, but I am sure my relationship with my co-worker would be forever changed by my absence from it. What should I do?

Devout Christian

DEAR DEVOUT CHRISTIAN: You have beliefs that conflict with your co-worker’s that are making you uncomfortable about attending his wedding. For that reason, you should not go.

But you do not need to make a big deal about it, including the urge to tell him why you cannot attend. It is not unusual for some parties who are invited to a wedding to be unable to attend. People have scheduling challenges. Unless you make it a big deal, it shouldn’t turn into one.