Dress
In North America and Europe, up until the late 1950s it was often expected that worshippers wore their best clothes to church services (known colloquially as the Sunday best). This tradition has declined in many mainstream churches but is still much in evidence in the Southern Baptist and Mormon traditions in the U.S., and in many black evangelical churches.
Those who support more relaxed dress codes do so on the basis that congregants should come to God as they are, and that communion with God requires no special clothing. Those who support more formal dress consider that although communion with God does indeed not require special clothing, a church service is an office of devotion and as a matter of respect, it is therefore appropriate to wear one's best attire.
Even where dress code is more relaxed it is still generally considered proper to dress modestly.
Read more about this topic: Church Etiquette
Famous quotes containing the word dress:
“Maud Muller looked and sighed: “Ah me!
That I the Judge’s bride might be!
“He would dress me up in silks so fine,
And praise and toast me at his wine.
“My father should wear a broadcloth coat,
My brother should sail a painted boat.”
—John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)
“Any affectation whatsoever in dress implies, in my mind, a flaw in the understanding.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“There is not enough exercise in this way of life. I try to make up by active gymnastics before I dress when I get up, by walking rapidly in the lower hall and the greenhouse after each meal for perhaps five to ten minutes, and a good hand rubbing before going to bed. I eat moderately; drink one cup of coffee at breakfast and one cup of tea at lunch and no other stimulant. My health is now, and usually, excellent.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)