Weeks before the fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral, a Baptist church in Louisiana went up in flames.
It was only the first in a series of what appear to have been hate crimes. Over the next two weeks, two other Baptist churches were reduced to ash.
Since April 4, the date of the last inferno, the churches had struggled to raise the funding for renewal. But then a fire erupted at France's most iconic cathedral, and people started to pay attention.
An international tragedy such as the collapse of the 850-year-old cathedral's roof and spire can become a reminder of how religious spaces influence many more than those who attend services there.
