For Abrahamic Religions, Clothing Is Both Trivial and Vital

WHY do the religious authorities feel strongly about what we wear when we go about our daily lives, when we worship....or indeed when we swim? That is not a silly question. After all, sacred literature contains many statements that seem to make the opposite point: that clothing doesn’t matter, or that it matters less than we think. Whatever impression we try to make with our apparel, God will see through it. A sonorous verse in the Hebrew scriptures declares that “the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart.” In Islam there is a hadith (or traditional saying) that God “does not look at your figures, not at your attire, but He looks at your hearts...” And Jesus of Nazareth tells his followers to be more like naked lilies growing in a field, free from worries about clothing and sustenance.