On August 10, someone walked up to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir — a Hindu temple in Greenwood, Indiana — and defaced its sign with hateful graffiti. Greenwood police are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime.

It is the kind of act that is meant to send a message: you are not welcome here. That message must be rejected — loudly, and by everyone.

See: Hindu temple’s sign vandalized with ‘message of hate,’ Greenwood police investigating

This incident does not exist in isolation. Last month, a Hindu temple in Spanish Fork, Utah was targeted in reported shooting attacks. Hindu temples in California and New York have faced similar bias-motivated vandalism in recent years. The pattern points to something bigger than individual bad actors — it reflects a broader climate in which houses of worship across faiths are increasingly being targeted by those emboldened by hate.

United Voices stands in full solidarity with the Hindu community in Greenwood and with the BAPS congregation whose sacred space was violated. The right to worship without fear is not a privilege — it is a constitutional guarantee that must be defended for every community, without exception.

We call on Greenwood police to conduct a thorough investigation, pursue appropriate charges against whoever is responsible, and treat this with the urgency that any hate-motivated attack on a house of worship deserves. We also call on community and faith leaders across Indiana to make clear — publicly and without ambiguity — that bigotry targeting any religious community will not be tolerated.

United Voices has consistently stood against hate targeting Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, and Sikh communities alike. That solidarity is not selective. Hate directed at anyone’s place of worship is a threat to everyone’s freedom of faith.