I never got "weepy"...over the Notre Dame fire....but the beauty and architecture showed the devotion of our ancestors to worshiping the myth.

I'm hoping the fire will end up being looked upon as something that expedited the restoration of it....the Notre Dame Cathedral was a real work of art..., and should be restored (without so much wood, IMO.).

Actually; the fire did something that was a goal of the restorers. The fire did something quickly that would have taken years, if not decades...it removed almost all the ancient bitterly dried and probably insect infested wood...which apparently was a goal of any ancient rebuilding...to renew and restore the framework.

If you look at the history of religion - you'd see that religion - and western Christianity in particular, served many purposes. Mostly it acted as a population growth control - albeit a restriction of the growth of wisdom and knowledge....the punishments meted out killed millions of scientists, known then as "alchemists" , "witches" and "warlocks"....

Yet western Christianity also served as a moral compass; whereas those allegedly without a "religion" were morally corrupt. (I say, allegedly....because we now know this was not true).

The "church" was at first a population growth encourager....suggesting we "go forth and multiply" but then they started emphasizing we be the "shepherds of nature" and work to respect the environment. Unfortunately, that emphasis became only token, and not strong enough for the present growth rate (158 more births, than death, per minute, world wide).

We agnostics now know better....so you're right....we don't weep for the loss of a "Religious" symbol...

But it saddens those of us who recognize a place for the greatness of Cathedral architecture in history.