Dear Lance and Adrienne,

A little before the turn of the third century, a pagan from North Africa named Tertullian converted to Christianity. He became an articulate and productive apologist, writing about all sorts of things Christian, including modesty.

By modesty, I'm talking about resistance to bragging. I'm talking about how people cover their bodies (or fail to cover them) with clothing.

Apparently, this was an issue a couple thousand years ago, which proves that today's rock stars and fashion models did not invent indecency. Some of them, however, are doing a bang-up job promoting it.

Tertullian would not be amused. He called modesty “the flower of manners, the honor of our bodies, the grace of the sexes, the integrity of the blood, the guarantee of our race, the basis of sanctity, the pre-indication of every good disposition.”

In the Old Testament, Sirach writes: “Like the lightening that flashes before a storm is the esteem that shines on modesty.”

In the New Testament, Paul writes: “Women should adorn themselves with proper conduct, with modesty and self-control.”

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Purity requires modesty, an integral part of temperance. Modesty protects the intimate center of the person. It means refusing to unveil what should remain hidden.”

In other words, the issue of modesty has been around a long time and there is some strong advice that clothing oneself modestly is a good thing to do. Of course, I recognize that saying it and defining it are two different things.

But I do think the Catechism is right on target when it says you aren't supposed to unveil what should remain hidden. And obviously what should remain hidden are the parts of the body that other people shouldn't be touching — with their hands or their eyes.

I'm not going to suggest that all young women wear burlap sacks that cover from head to toe. I'm not going to suggest that all young men wear baggy pants, white dress shirts and their grandfathers' wingtips.

I will suggest that what young people wear should cover their bodies in such a way so as not to draw direct attention to those parts of their bodies that the entire world is not supposed to be looking at. And while it may be difficult to precisely define modest attire, it is blatantly simple to recognize that which is not modest. For example:

A girl wearing a transparent blouse with little or no underwear beneath.

A girl wearing pants cut so low that her underwear (which obviously doesn't amount to much) shows above the “waistline.”

A boy wearing low-cut pants with his boxer shorts showing several inches at the “waistline.”

A boy or girl with tattoos of various real and mythological creatures crawling around the arms, legs, necks, faces and torsos.

Bare belly buttons adorned with various stones, chains, pins and needles.

Profanity written on clothing or bodies.

I could go on, but you probably get the idea. And maybe you think I'm old-fashioned. But I would suggest that if Tertullian felt the need to campaign for modesty nearly 2,000 years ago, immodesty must be as old-fashioned as modesty.

It probably is a good rule of thumb that if something is underwear, it is supposed to go under other clothing. Remember when grandma used to say to always wear clean underwear in case you get hit by a car and must be taken to the hospital? She wanted you to be presentable to the doctors and nurses — not the general public.

Jim Fair writes from Chicago.