"i shall take a building. a building shaped like a cross, furnished neither for habitation or defence. i shall multiply this building by a thousand, by ten thousand, by a hundred thousand...

it may be as small as a single room; it may soar into the sky. it may be old or it may be new; it may be plain or it may be rich; it may be of stone or it may be of wood or it may be of brick or of mud. this building is in the heart of cities and it is in the wild places of earth. it is on the islands and in deserts and upon mountains.

the walls and furnishings of this building tell stories; they talk of kings and queens and angels and devils; they instruct and they threaten. they are intended to uplift and to terrify. they are an argument made manifest.

the argument is another matter. what i am trying to demonstrate at this point is the amazing legacy of god -- or the possibility of god -- by way not of ideas but of manipulation of the landscape. churches have always seemed to me almost irrefutable evidence. they make me wonder if -- just possibly -- i might be wrong. which is how i came once to pray."
-penelope lively, moon tiger-