[PallMal]

This Cathedral was like Mecca to Catholics.

No.

If Mecca, more succinctly, the "black stone" is destroyed, Islam is over as a religion, and the Muslims know this. Their religion is done and dusted by destroying that stone.

On the other hand, you could destroy the Vatican itself, and Christianity will live on.

[JohnBovenmyer]

>If Mecca, more succinctly, the "black stone" is destroyed, Islam is over as a religion, and the Muslims know this. Their religion is done and dusted by destroying that stone.

Sadly, history suggests otherwise. The damned stone was stolen from Mecca by muslim zealots for about 25 years once, kept in Qatar IIRC, then eventually returned. All without ending Islam.