But if you were born after World War II, no matter your gender, you probably dress a lot more casually for worship: slacks and a shirt or sweater -- perhaps even shorts and a T-shirt.

The fact is, church fashion has done a huge turnaround since the 1960s, when young people began showing up at worship wearing worn jeans and flannel shirts with guitars hanging from their necks.

If the more casual dress on Sunday mornings distresses you, brace yourself. It appears the trend will not change, judging from the casual dress reported at some college chapels.

The Rev. Bruce Benson, campus pastor at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., says that he has seen a revolution in the way people dress for worship.

"You see everything on Sundays. Some people dress up," Benson said. "But we have the whole range -- shorts, barefoot. We've had barefoot people serving communion.

"There was a kid who ate breakfast in chapel during the week -- orange juice and doughnuts. He wasn't trying to be disrespectful. There are people who are oblivious to things around them. He'd probably never noticed that he was the only one having breakfast in chapel. But I don't think he was trying to make a statement."

Benson recalled that one student wore his bathrobe everywhere for an entire semester.

"So naturally he wore his bathrobe to church. Some will say it's disrespectful -- I know all that," Benson said. "But I think we have figured out it really is the heart that matters. If they don't know it's disrespectful, then it's not disrespectful. It never occurs to them that this is an 'anti' statement of any kind. What is most surprising and gratifying to me, even in their grubbies they still feel welcome."

In fact, over the past 30 years, the habit of dressing up for church has been slowly eroding in most congregations. At Riverview Baptist in St. Paul, Minn., church administrator Lois Glewwe says the casual look has hit Baptists, just like other denominations.

"Anything goes," Glewwe says. "We have one service, and we have all generations in one place. There are 20 to 40 couples who still dress up. Then there are probably a middle group of people from 40 years to 60 years and they wear everything -- slacks, suits, short shorts, dresses -- everything. And then there are the young people. They're always casual. At first, it caused some concern, but the people have accepted it.

"I think it hit Baptist churches later. In the 1970s, those hippies from the 1960s got married and had kids, and they were not rebelling. That's just who they are. We're not a very conservative Baptist church. We've always been independent and moderate."

Probably the last group of churches where many worshipers still dress up is African-American. The Rev. Melvin Turner, pastor of St. Philip's Episcopal Church in St. Paul, Minn., said the look of the congregation is changing, but the transformation will come slowly.

"Most people dress up," Turner said. "Not all of them, but within the African-American community, you will find that to be the case. Particularly in mainline churches. We always put on our Sunday best. The older women still come with hats on. It's a cultural thing. It's a sign of respect. Church is the place people come to meet their God. But I have altar boys that wear tennis shoes. I don't mind. I'm just glad to see them in church."

But Tony Pinn, director of the African-American Studies Program and a member of the religious studies department at Macalester College in St. Paul, said that dressing up for church could stand in the way of the real reason for worship.

"Historically, it is important in the African-American community to approach the religious ceremony with all seriousness -- to always show their best. At its best, that practice was to establish a tradition of making a spiritual connection. At its worst, it was a matter of show," he says.

"I think there will always be this tradition of showing the best you have," Pinn said. "But there is still a need to cut to the quick -- to the spiritual connection."

The Rev. Bill Teska, pastor of St. Paul's-on-the-Hill Episcopal Church on Summit Avenue, said most people dress casually for worship and sometimes, on sweltering days, he will wear shorts under his robes.

"I would say it started to change in the 1960s," Teska said. "I can remember 30 years ago there was a lot of talk about how some people couldn't come to church because they didn't have the right clothes. I think it's a good change."

But, he said, even he was shocked when he went to church at St. Augustine's in Santa Monica, Calif. "I turned to pass the (sign of) peace and here was this woman in magenta hot pants and a matching top with polka dots. She had pink high heels. Looked like she had just stepped off a bad street. But I talked to her during coffee, and she seemed to be a prominent member of the community. It's just the culture."

Pete Drake, pastor of Roseville Assembly of God, in Roseville, Minn., said at least once he decided to draw the line.

"There was a woman who came to church wearing a sports bra, her midriff was exposed," Drake said. "And she had biker pants on the bottom. It was so bad, so distracting, that I asked her if she had a shirt in her car. She left and came back with a shirt. It was not that we had rules about clothing, but it had to do with worship and that you don't do anything to draw attention to yourself -- everything in decency. Modesty, in this case, was the issue."

Pastor Ed DuBose, pastor of King of Kings Lutheran, Woodbury, Minn., says in some cases the issue is money.

"Tonight we're doing acolyte training," DuBose said. "And we used to say they couldn't wear sneakers. But some kids have told us they just don't own any other kinds of shoes. Anyway, I love seeing the little blinking lights on the acolyte's shoes as they walk up to the altar."

But DuBose said sometimes things do get out of hand.

"One day I served Holy Communion to a young lady with a big picture of Satan on her T-shirt," he said. "I think it was a hockey team shirt. I thought that was a bit too much. At first, it (the trend toward casualness) was a good thing because people were overdressing for church -- it became a status thing. But now I wonder if we may be losing some respect for the sanctuary and worship."

Rich Junghans, the youth director at St. Michael's Catholic Church in Stillwater, Minn., said he seldom confronts teens about their clothes.

"But one day this kid came to church and he had on a Coed Naked soccer shirt," Junghans said. "That really burned me. I said to him, 'Do you realize what you're wearing?' But he probably looked in his dresser that morning and saw it was clean so he threw it on.

"People react differently to the way kids dress," Junghans says. "I remember one Holy Thursday service and we had teens sitting up front to get their feet washed. Someone said that it was so nice to see the teens up on the altar. Somebody else said, 'Why is it nice? Look at the way they were dressed.' "

Peter Boehlke, pastor of the Church of the Good Shepherd, a United Methodist congregation in St. Paul, says his church celebrates Holy Fools Day when everyone comes dressed in funny clothing, some even wearing big clown noses.

"Then one day Iowa Blackie showed up in church," Boehlke said. "He's one of my transient friends -- he's really a hobo. I don't know how he found us. He came in dirty clothes, unshaven. He'd been riding the rails. He introduced himself to me and said he had some original poems he wanted to read to the congregation. So I had him read one of his poems. He got up in front and read a poem. It was really a moving moment."

"But we've lost that sense of respect," Boehlke said. "And our generation could learn something from those people from the Eisenhower years. There has to be a meeting in the middle. It doesn't have to be so stiff and uncomfortable."

Clark D. Morphew