I think this is largely dependent on who you hang around. Since I'm an attorney, it follows that most of my friends are attorneys, and tend to not dress like bums even on a weekend at a party to watch a game. Maybe lawyers and investment bankers are the last holdouts here?Ever since I started dressing better, my friends now call me "grandpa." And I'm only mid-40's. But, to most people below 40, if you're dressing up beyond having to for work, then they look at you strangely. And I'm talking about something as simple as chinos and an OCBD. For most of them, dressing up means putting on your nice jeans and tshirt. They ask my why I'm so dressed up all the time. I tell them I'm actually quite comfortable. And keep in mind, I'm not really that dressed up. Only in comparison to them. As much as all of us like finer clothes, the majority of the young people getting older are quite fine with very casual clothes no matter what setting they're in.
I'll just toss my $0.02 in. I am not a religious man. However, out of respect for the institution itself, if I am going to attend a place of worship for any reason, whatever it may be, I will be in a suit. It isn't about judging others; it's about me doing what I think is appropriate and respectful.Well 'moral' means concerned with right and wrong behaviour. Given that you acknowledge that you dress smartly where others don't, and that in the circumstances in which you dress as such it is, in your view, wrong to dress in a slovenly or indifferent way, you are unavoidably applying a norm to how we dress at church. You are right, and those who dress indifferently are, to use your word, doing 'wrong'.
There is surely no clearer indicator of moral superiority than to indicate that you are in the right and others in the wrong.
Please don't take me as hostile - I do not mean to say that you would ever be so impolite as to approach these people and put them down. Furthermore, I think your intentions in dressing well for church are entirely honourable and admirable. However, to say that you have never implied your moral superiority to the more casual dressers would be to ignore the effect of your last comment.
I'm not judging others; I speak only for myself and one of the ways in which I personally would show respect.So, if you happen to be the only person in a particular place of worship that is wearing a suit, is it your opinion that none of the other men are being respectful to the institution?
