Greek Revival: Because we're smarter than you.

"Theology sits by her window in powder and paint, courting the favour of philosophy" - Soren Kierkegaard

Why did Presbyterians in early America build churches to look like Greek temples?
Maybe it's because American Presbyterians liked to think of themselves as the most learned of all the Protestant sects and Greek Revival served as an outward manifestation of their intellectual aspirations? (That's how they tended to think of themselves when I was growing up in the church.)
While these backwoods temples seem kitschy today, other sects thought the practice glorified paganism and thus we must give the Presbyterians their due: they really were more open minded, at least when it comes to architecture.
But what a woefully low hurdle to set! Instead of trying to outsmart the neighboring church, why didn't they aim to be the smartest people in the country, bar none? If they had, maybe modern Christians wouldn't be so terrified of Charles Darwin?
Anyway, the IOOF (Odd Fellows) Hall in Bel Air, MD was constructed by the local Presbyterians in 1852. It served as a church until the 1880's. Today it seems swallowed up by the surrounding town, as quaint and forgotten as philosophy itself.