Was just daydreaming to myself about what my "church of the future" might look like. Thought I'd share my little vision!

We sit on our old wooden pews on a Sunday morning, feeling the slightly chilly air, looking up at the compact but magnificent stone walls of this old building.

Sometimes we think back and smile at the immature arguments people used to have in these buildings, such as the fruitless debate about whether "God" really exists or not.

The priest steps forwards, he/she wears a simple white gown. Like many priests, yours is transexual. The church has learnt a lot over last few decades from the wise old shamanistic practices of indigenous peoples, which often pre-date organised religion by tens of thousands of years.

Transgendered people are once again assuming special spiritual roles, celebrated and respected for the glorious natural diversity they represent, for their unique personal struggles, and the way they often stand squarely outside of reproductive imperatives.

The priest leads the singing and each member of the congregation approaches, accepting a small square of blotting paper from him/her. Back in our seats we place the blotting paper on our tongue. We know it is impregnated with a hallucinogenic compound, an entheogen distributed by the Church of England. We think back to the Greek word that 'entheogen' is derived from, meaning 'that which generates the god within'.

Like a wave of wisdom and ecstasy, the drug sweeps up through our bodies, giving us direct personal experience of the divine, a timeless moment when we are unified with the consciousness of our fellow human beings and the rest of the universe, reminding us as we remember every Sunday that each of us is God, we are each the arbiters of our own reality, responsible for choosing between good and evil.

Then we go home and watch some Buffy DVDs. LOL

I'm sure more enterprising churches are dealing with the problem by taking on lots of activities and becoming community hubs. I hear that some churches are being repurposed into sacred places for other faiths.

I much prefer the idea of churches and temples being working buildings rather than museum pieces, much as I prefer a working farm to a National Trust relic all fenced off with ugly brown signs all over it. When you use something, you really value it.

I have some faith that Christianity might gradually and painfully evolve into something a bit more in tune with mainstream society, cease its ridiculous obsession with sexuality, sex and women, and continue to fulfil the evident ongoing human need for ritual and a spiritual dimension to life. And then perhaps they could make churches the vital hubs of community life they probably ought to be.

But for now I think the decline of Christianity probably means the decline of all that rich fabric that we want to keep…