Topic: Dressing up for Church

[S0N_of_trapeze]

This is a controversial topic, especially so for kids my age and younger. I believe that dressing well for church is absolutely necessary. I am not saying a suit and tie necessarily but it must hold to military standards at least. I truly only came into this belief recently (with in the last 2 years) because i seem to have gotten over the whole rebel-against-conformity teenager fad. One standard that i have always held to, one that my parents always enforced, was the "no hat" rule. Every time I see one of my counterparts wearing a hat in a church, my stomach takes a swan dive. In the military, if you walk into the office of someone higher ranking wearing a hat, it is a sign of much disrespect. In fact, it is a "smoking" worthy offense. I can never imagine showing my God, Savior and Creator any less respect than i would my NCO. now days, i always wear my best uniform or civilian clothing i have that is not dress quality. Back to my opening statement, the reason why youth are beginning to slip into these disrespectful ways is because of a lack of guidance from a parental figure and attention to detail. what i mean by attention to detail is that i highly doubt that if they knew the amount of disrespect wearing a hat in the church showed, i think they would remove the hat. Parents are also to blame in that they dont reinforce the practice even though they may be leading by example; example isnt always enough to direct the sheep. This is, of course, just my opinion. My parents were always good about giving me direction as how to dress for church (even though i didnt always listen).
        As a continuation on the civilian clothing to be worn to church, I currently am based out of Wahiawa, Oahu, Hawaii. Going to church in Hawaii is a much different experience than back home with my parents. The "islander's" concept of nice, especially in the summer, is a tucked-in, collared t-shirt (flower pattern of course) and khaki shorts. Everywhere you go, there are different standards as to what "nice" looks like. In a place like hawaii, it involves wearing clean clothing that is breathable and neat, but not something formal. even there they view wearing a hat during church disrespectful and are not afraid to let you know. So i guess it all depends on your standards and where you worship, even though the very nature of the act requires a certain level of "dressing up".

[Weisshaupt]

In the military, if you walk into the office of someone higher ranking wearing a hat, it is a sign of much disrespect. In fact, it is a "smoking" worthy offense. I can never imagine showing my God, Savior and Creator any less respect than i would my NCO. now days, i always wear my best uniform or civilian clothing i have that is not dress quality.

As SOT has pointed out -  this goes beyond Church. When you are wearing a suit  its a constant ( and usually uncomfortable) reminder of where you are, what you are doing, and what is expected of you.  It was incentive to "play the part." Dropping standards of dress are usually an indicator of dropping standards of behavior. Proper attire is a language all of it own. It can display discipline or insult, an attention to detail or sloppiness, wealth or poverty, thrift or spendthrift, indicate a honest citizen or a gang member. Those who do not have the ability or desire to speak this language, want more people to dress as they do- to hide their undesirable characteristics.

I have never served, so I cannot say with any certainty that wearing a soldier's uniform also has this effect, but I know it has an effect on how I perceive the person wearing it. But I suspect it also works in reverse - reminding the individual of the standards the uniform represents, of the people who died to give honor to its symbolism , and kindling a desire to also be seen worthy of wearing it.

The veneer of civilization is very thin. I think a company with a more "stuffy" dress code automatically also have a staff that simply behaves more professionally, and a society with one will automatically have better behaved citizens.  And for the record, I hate suits too, but it may not be that big of a price to pay in the long run. A uniform demands that you fill it.   

[Predator Don]

The veneer of civilization is very thin. I think a company with a more "stuffy" dress code automatically also have a staff that simply behaves more professionally, and a society with one will automatically have better behaved citizens.  And for the record, I hate suits too, but it may not be that big of a price to pay in the long run. A uniform demands that you fill it.

I totally agree with Weisshaupt on this point.

Before my own business venture, I operated a branch for a corp. Once policy changed, toward the "casual golf shirt/ company logo" other than business attire, sales began to drop companywide. I'm sure there were other circumstances, but it coincided with the change in dress code. I bought into the change, wore the golf shirt, made my calls and found my sales dwindle. I became aware of the mistake at a company meeting...full of golf shirts and a noticeable change in attitude.

Returned home, still wore the golf shirt, if I took a customer to play golf, but went back to the suit. My sales, along with confidence and my attention to detail, increased.

Heck, in church, when i'm in a suit, I find myself paying more attention. A uniform DOES demand you fill it.