Churchternative: Secular House of Science

In one of the conversations that eventually led to this blog, Surfer Jesus suggested that a better use for church buildings would be scientific research centers.

I love the idea! I can't imagine how to make it happen without Christianity in general declaring war, but the thought of amateur science labs in every neighborhood is quite powerful to me.

Something as simple as making invisible ink, making precipitation and building simple machines into catapults and rat-trap-powered cars really gives a person a feel for the meaning and implication behind science that book learning doesn't. Imagine a Sunday school where a child learns by experience and not by humans presumptively thinking they're channeling the true word of God? (How many denominations are there? Not to mention the Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, pagans, etc. Which one of them has it right?)

How about a neighborhood observatory or planetarium?

Man, I love these ideas. It would be great to see it happen someday.