A leader of the Ahmadiyah Muslim community in Indonesia describes an attack on 1st October 2010, after a period of increasing hate speech and harassment.

“There were more than 200 people, with stones, samurai swords, Molotov cocktails, anything that could be used as a weapon. They burned the mosque, the school and the mission house, and two houses were completely burned down, while two others were partly burned. Half the mosque was completely burned down, and two motorcycles and a car were set on fire and destroyed. Windows and roofs in houses were broken as a result of stone-throwing. Altogether 35 houses were damaged, and the shop was looted."

“Before this attack, in general, relations with neighbouring communities were good: we had no incidents, good communication, few problems. However, the parents had started using hate speech about the Ahmadiyah community, and this must have influenced and affected their children.”

Ahmadi Muslims experience harassment and persecution all over the world. Since 2005 Indonesian Ahmadis have experienced an increasing campaign of discrimination and violence, including the banning of Ahmadiyah teaching and practice, and the closure of mosques.

This is what can happen to groups of religious minorities, very often Christians, when we don’t challenge hate speech: voices that preach, teach and promote hate against people of difference religious beliefs. It happens all over the world, to people of all religions, endangering the lives of millions; and it has to stop.

The Retune campaign is challenging voices of religious hatred, to break this brutal cycle for good. Here’s how you can help…

Go to www.csw.org.uk/operation18 to add your name to the retune. We believe that the church can, and must, play a lead role in tackling the issue of hate speech – by challenging and retuning the voices of hate, by reaching out in love across communities, and by encouraging more open and positive dialogue. We are grateful that Archbishop Welby and Pope Francis have already spoken out about the issue, but we need them to keep doing so on behalf of the worldwide Church, especially when they meet with other church and political leaders.

This will add weight to the advocacy work we will be doing at the individual country level. We’ll tell you more about that as the campaign goes on. Meanwhile, please join forces with us to stop things like the Cisalada attack happening again!