The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that the world is nearing a "pivotal moment" in the battle against hatred.
Mr Guterres made the comments after a synagogue shooting in the United States and a church attack in Burkina Faso marked the latest religiously-targeted attacks this year.
"As crime feeds on crime, and as vile views move from the fringes to the mainstream, I am profoundly concerned that we are nearing a pivotal moment in battling hatred and extremism," Mr Guterres said in a statement.
A teenage gunman opened fire at a California synagogue on Saturday, killing one person and injuring three others including the rabbi as worshippers marked the final day of Passover.
Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein (right) comforts a worshipper outside the Chabad of Poway synagogue in California following a mid-worship shooting., Source: AAP
Then, on Sunday, gunmen killed four worshippers and a pastor in a small town in Burkina Faso, the first attack on a church since jihadist violence erupted in the African country in 2015.
On 15 March, 50 people were killed in attacks on mosques in New Zealand, and more than 250 people were killed in a series of bombings on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka.
Guterres deplored a "disturbing groundswell of intolerance and hate-based violence targeting worshippers of many faiths," saying such violence had become "all too familiar".
S. Diduni Nihansa, who was wounded in the Easter Sunday bombing at St. Sebastians Church, is comforted by a relative in a hospital in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Source: The New York Times
"Houses of worship, instead of the safe havens they should be, have become targets," he said.
The UN chief appealed to religious leaders, governments, civil society and all others to combat hate, saying "this is a job for everyone".
