ATLANTA _ They were modest brick buildings, without soaring Gothic spires, elaborate rosette windows or roofs carved of 12th-century timber.
But the three houses of worship that burned down last month in a rural part of south Louisiana were longtime pillars of their African American congregations. Like the historic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, they were sacred to those who worshipped inside.
So after flames consumed the roof and spire of the 800-year-old Gothic French landmark, and people across the world vowed to rebuild it, calls rang out to support a crowdfunding site raising money for the three small Louisiana churches.
"The rebuild of Notre Dame will be well funded," journalist Yashar Ali said Tuesday morning on Twitter as he promoted a GoFundMe campaign for the Louisiana churches.
"In the past month, three historically black churches in Louisiana were destroyed by a racist arsonist. He has been charged with hate crimes, but these churches need your help."
On Sunday, the fundraiser had raised just below $50,000. By Wednesday morning, the total had skyrocketed to $1.3 million.
Authorities have accused Holden Matthews, 21, of setting the fires that devastated three churches _ St. Mary Baptist Church, Greater Union Baptist Church and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church _ in St. Landry Parish over 10 days in March and April.
Earlier this week, local prosecutors also charged Matthews with hate crimes. In Louisiana, hate crimes include offenses perpetrated against an individual because of their race, sexual orientation, national origin or disability.
The fundraising campaign was launched last week by the Seventh District Baptist Association, a 149-year-old nonprofit group that includes 54 Baptist churches in southwest Louisiana. Any donations, it said, would be split evenly among the three churches that burned to rebuild their sanctuaries and replace pews, sound systems and musical instruments that were destroyed.
"I am donating because historic black churches are no less historic or important that Notre Dame!" one donor, Stuart Feen, said on the fundraising website.
"We honor all places of worship," said another donor, John Holding. "Blessings in your efforts to rebuild."
"You are someone's Notre Dame but you suffer more because you were harmed by cruelty," wrote a couple, Jane and Roger. "We admire you and believe you will return strong."
"God is real," said David Sylvester, a 56-year-old deacon of St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church in Port Barre, when he heard about the spike in donations to the historic family church, where his brother, Kyle, is the pastor. "Your Paris church, it's 800 or more years old. It's a national icon," he said, noting that he had visited Notre Dame last year with his son. "At the same time, here in America we need to focus on coming together."
After Notre Dame burned, Sylvester, an associate professor in computer science at Baton Rouge Community College, showed his students photographs of its ornately carved stone exterior, Gothic arches and heavy oak doors. His church, with its simple wooden pulpit and whitewashed walls, was nothing like that.
"Our church, we don't put any emphasis on idols," he said. "We didn't put value on the church itself. The building is a place of worship, the building is the house of the Lord. It is a holy and sanctified place. But it's not so important I have to put the building over you or family or a member."
His congregation, he said, would stick together regardless of whether the building is there. "God's work must still go forward," he said.
