The Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue vehemently condemns the institutionalization of hate speech against religion in light of recent events

27 Oct The Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue vehemently condemns the institutionalization of hate speech against religion in light of recent events

The Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID) strongly condemns the continuation of systematic hate speech and incitement to hatred based on religion, race or belief.

The downward spiral of offensive speech has reached new lows over the systematic attacks against the Prophet Muhammad (may God’s Peace and Blessing be upon him), hurting the sentiments of close to 2 billion Muslims around the world.

The unchecked use of hate speech, on the individual, institutional and international levels, severely threatens the peace and the essence of coexistence, in addition to undermining the laborious efforts of the international community in creating a culture based on the respect for religions, the rejection of religious discrimination, and the spirit of love, tolerance and empathy among all.

The Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue has worked diligently over the past twenty years on building bridges between religions, bringing together people of different worldviews and calling for peaceful coexistence. In working towards the former and in light of recent events, through this statement, DICID stresses the need to distinguish between the freedom of expression as a right that must be safeguarded and the institutional abuse of this right through the systematic use and normalization of hate speech driven by extremist exclusionary populist currents. DICID thus calls on every individual as responsible global citizens to display the values of peace, tolerance and dialogue as embodied in the divine religions.