Appalling. I don't know what else I can say about this.
I was trying to figure out what in the United States would be remotely comparable and the closest I could come up with was if the National Cathedral, the Lincoln Memorial, and more than one of the really old Puritan->Congregationalist->UCC/UU churches in Eastern Massachusetts all went out at once. Even that might not be as scarring.
Probably something like the Statue of Liberty burning.
The equivalent in America would not even be a church. Notre Dame for the French and Parisians would be like the White House or Capitol for Americans. Its not a religion thing, its a national symbol.
Yes, but a national symbol without any functional (governmental) purpose, unlike the White House or Capitol.
Statue of Liberty is probably still the best analog.
The American analogy would have to be St Patrick's (NY), the National Cathedral (DC), the Moron Tabernacle (UT) and Independence Hall (PA) all burnt at the same time.
St Patricks, the National Cathedral and Mormon Tabernacle have no national significance to the vast majority of Americans. Independence Hall probably isn't even recognizable by most Americans, much less internationally recognizable.
Notre Dame burning is eliciting such a strong reaction in France and around the world because it's probably the second most internationally-recognizable symbol of France, not (except for a small minority) for its religious significance. The Statue of Liberty is perhaps the only similarly recognizable symbol of the United States.
