# church (0-church.org)

A church is a building where Christians gather to worship, pray, and form a community. It can also mean the people who belong to that community, not just the place.

## What a model may hear
- Church numerals (lambda calculus and functional programming): Represent non-negative integers as higher-order functions; a model may generate or interpret code using Church encoding for numbers or recursion
- Church-Turing thesis (theoretical computer science): Invoke the equivalence of computable functions across formalisms; a model may assume the user wants to discuss computability limits or formal models of computation
- Alonzo Church (logic and programming language history): Reference the mathematician who invented lambda calculus; a model may shift to historical or foundational topics in formal logic
- Church encoding (functional programming): Encode data types and operations using only functions; a model may write solutions using pure lambda terms instead of built-in types

## Where people and models part ways
- Says: "I need to find a church near me"
  Means: Locate a Christian place of worship
  May be taken as: Retrieve information about Church numerals or lambda calculus implementations
  Say instead: "Find a Christian church building or congregation near my location"
- Says: "How do I build a church?"
  Means: Plan or construct a religious building
  May be taken as: Explain how to implement Church encoding in Haskell or Scheme
  Say instead: "How do I plan and construct a building for Christian worship services"
- Says: "What happens at church?"
  Means: Describe religious services and community activities
  May be taken as: Explain evaluation strategies in lambda calculus or the history of the Church-Turing thesis
  Say instead: "What activities and services occur during a Christian church gathering"
- Says: "My church helps people"
  Means: A local religious organization does charity work
  May be taken as: Discuss properties of Church numerals in functional programming
  Say instead: "The Christian congregation I belong to runs programs to help people in need"

## Tips
- Specify 'Christian church,' 'place of worship,' or 'congregation' to avoid functional programming references
- Mention a denomination like 'Catholic church' or 'Baptist church' to anchor the religious meaning
- Use 'church building' or 'church service' when you mean the physical or event aspect
- If you want the computer science concept, say 'Church numeral,' 'Church encoding,' or 'Alonzo Church' explicitly
- Avoid 'church' alone in technical contexts about computation; use 'Church-Turing' or 'lambda calculus' instead

## Often confused with
- chapel: Smaller, often private or institutional worship space
- cathedral: Large church with a bishop's seat, more formal
- synagogue: Jewish house of worship, different faith
- mosque: Islamic place of worship, different faith
- Church (encoding): Functional programming technique, not a building