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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Religion & belief fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about religion & belief. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

3,371 published reviews in this topic

FACTLYReligion & belief

News story about a Catholic priest who converted to Islam after being in coma for 17 months

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a newspaper screenshot shared on social media. It said an 87-year-old Spanish Catholic priest living in Indonesia converted to Islam after awakening from a 17-month coma, and that he said Allah had spoken to him. FACTLY investigated this specific story, rather than the general question of whether Catholic priests have converted to Islam. FACTLY reports that keyword searches led it to a tweet by the news outlet Utusan Online and a clarification linked from that tweet. According to FACTLY, Utusan Online called the report fake, and its clarification said the story had been quoted from World News Daily Report and was untrue. FACTLY also located the purported original article on that site. The decisive evidence described in the review is World News Daily Report’s own disclaimer. FACTLY quotes it as accepting responsibility for the satirical nature of its articles and the fictional nature of their content, and stating that characters in its articles are entirely fictional. On that basis, FACTLY concludes that the coma-and-conversion story was satire, not a real incident. The review also mentions Victor Fenter, a U.S. Catholic priest who converted to Islam in 2006. It distinguishes that account from the viral story: Fenter’s conversion was described as following his interest in Rumi and Islam, not as an event after a coma. This separate example does not verify the claimed incident.

FACTLYReligion & belief

Video of people celebrating after the discovery of Shivling in Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a video presented as showing recent celebrations in Kashi, Varanasi, after the reported discovery of a Shivling during a survey at Gyanvapi Mosque. FACTLY reports that the footage was already circulating online by August 2019, so it predates the event it was said to depict. Its review concludes that the video was unrelated to the reported discovery. To trace the footage, the review says it searched screenshots from the video using reverse image search, then searched relevant keywords. Those searches did not identify reliable sources for the footage, but the keyword search found the same video on a YouTube channel. The uploader had posted it on 12 August 2019 with the title “MANJIRA DAMROO JULOOS IN VARANASI,” providing an earlier online record of the same video.

FACTLYReligion & belief

Recent photo of a Muslim in tears of joy after the Shivling discovery in Gyanvapi Mosque

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns a photo said to show a Muslim man crying with joy after a Shivling was reportedly found during a survey at Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi. FACTLY’s review identifies the man in the photo as Naushad Alam, a visitor from West Bengal, and says the image instead dates to events following the inauguration of the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor on 15 December 2021. Alam was expressing anguish about the corridor’s high walls obscuring the mosque, not joy about the reported discovery. The review concludes that the photo is unrelated to that discovery. [S1] The review describes two checks. A reverse image search found the same photo in news articles published in December 2021, where it was reported as showing a Muslim youth upset that the corridor’s construction hid the mosque. FACTLY also located an interview on UP Tak’s YouTube channel, conducted after the corridor’s inauguration. At 4:46 in the video, the man introduces himself as a visitor from Kolkata, West Bengal, and identifies himself as Naushad Alam. [S1] In the interview, Alam discusses the mosque being covered while the temple was built grandly, and says he feels pain about the situation. This account and the older circulation of the photo contradict the social-media caption’s description of a recent image showing joy after the Shivling discovery. [S1]

FACTLYReligion & belief

Photos of the alleged ‘Shivling’ reportedly found during the recent survey in the Gyanvapi Mosque

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The review investigated social-media photos presented as images of the alleged Shivling reportedly found during a survey at the Gyanvapi Mosque. It concluded that the images examined did not show the Gyanvapi site. The review says it used reverse image searches to trace several photos to other locations. One image described as a Shivling was traced to Baba Bhusandeswar Temple in Odisha. A separate image of a pool, circulated as a Gyanvapi fountain, was matched to an Alamy listing describing an ablution pool at Ajmer Sharif dargah in Rajasthan. The review also notes that a lawyer for the mosque side told NDTV the object found in the survey was a fountain, not a Shivling; it distinguishes that statement from the provenance of the circulated photo, which it says was not from Gyanvapi. The review’s updates addressed additional images: one was identified in Google Street View at the Tomb of I’timād-ud-Daulah in Agra, another as a Shivling found in Vietnam, and a further pool photo as the ablution pool at Nakhoda Masjid in Kolkata. It therefore found that the photos it examined came from other places, rather than depicting the alleged object at Gyanvapi.

FACTLYReligion & belief

UP CM Yogi Adityanath has taken a big decision to convert the Taj Mahal into a Shiva Temple

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a social-media post alleging that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had decided to convert the Taj Mahal into a Shiva temple. FACTLY says it searched the internet for reports of such a decision and found none. The review argues that a decision of this significance would have been reported by reputable news agencies, but notes that it did not find such coverage. Its account therefore presents the allegation as unsupported by the reporting it checked, rather than citing an official announcement or a direct denial from Adityanath. The review also points to a related but distinct legal development: the Uttar Pradesh government opposed a petition by a BJP leader seeking a fact-finding committee to study the Taj Mahal’s history and open its closed doors. FACTLY reports that the state raised a preliminary objection about territorial jurisdiction and informed the court that a suit on the issue was already pending before an Agra court. That court-related action does not establish that the government had decided to convert the monument into a temple; the review uses it as context for what authorities had actually done. On the evidence described in the excerpt, the central distinction is between a petition seeking historical inquiry and access to closed areas, and an alleged government decision to change the monument’s religious use. FACTLY reports finding no coverage of the alleged decision and describes the state’s response to the petition as opposition, not implementation of such a conversion.

Vishvas NewsReligion & belief

काही हिंदू तरुणांचा एक गट मशिदीसमोर डीजेवर हनुमान चालीसा वाजवत असल्याचा व्हिडीओ सोशल मीडियावर शेअर केला जात आहे. त्यानंतर काही मुस्लिम तरुणांनी त्यांना लाठ्या-काठ्यांनी बेदम मारहाण केली.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video said to show Hindu youths playing the Hanuman Chalisa on a DJ setup outside a mosque in India, followed by an attack by Muslim youths carrying sticks. Vishvas News reports that its investigation found the video was from Bangladesh, not India, and that the account attached to it misrepresented the setting. The review describes the people in the video as a group of young men with a DJ on a truck, who were then struck and driven away by supporters of the Touhidi group. Its account does not identify them as Hindu youths playing the Hanuman Chalisa or establish that the incident occurred outside a mosque in India. [S1: “व्हायरल झालेला व्हिडिओ भारताचा नसून बांगलादेशचा आहे”; “ईदच्या निमित्ताने बांगलादेशातील तरुणांचा एक गट डीजे वाजवून लोकांना त्रास देत होता, त्यानंतर तौहिदी समर्थकांनी तरुणांना मारून त्यांना हुसकावून लावले.”] The review says it used InVID to locate versions of the video and Google reverse-image search to trace them. It then found a related report on the official YouTube channel of Bangladeshi broadcaster No1 News Bd, published on May 5, 2022. According to the review’s description of that report, the gathering involved young men playing a DJ in Bangladesh during Eid, after which Touhidi supporters drove them away. It also found a related video on Maulana Nazrul Islam Siraji’s official YouTube channel, uploaded May 6, 2022. [S1: “विश्वास न्यूजने इनव्हीड टूलचा वापर केला. या साधनाच्या मदतीने, आम्ही अनेक व्हिडिओ मिळवले आणि Google रिव्हर्स इमेजद्वारे शोधले.”; “No1 News Bd च्या अधिकृत YouTube चॅनेलवर 5 मे 2022 रोजी प्रकाशित झालेल्या व्हायरल व्हिडिओशी संबंधित एक अहवाल मिळाला.”; “बांगलादेशच्या मौलाना नजरुल इस्लाम सिराजी यांच्या अधिकृत YouTube चॅनेलवर अपलोड केलेल्या व्हायरल दाव्याशी संबंधित व्हिडिओ आढळला.”] Vishvas News further reports that Bangladeshi journalist Sadiqur Rahman told it the video was from Bangladesh and described people being beaten by some clerics after playing a DJ from a truck. This account supports the review’s identification of the setting, but the supplied excerpt does not provide independent details such as the precise location of the incident. [S1: “बांगलादेशचे पत्रकार सादिकुर रहमान यांच्याशी संपर्क साधला. त्यांनी आम्हाला सांगितले की व्हायरल दावा खोटा आहे. हा व्हिडिओ भारताचा नसून बांगलादेशचा आहे.”; “काही लोकांनी असे कृत्य केले, त्यावर काही मौलानांनी त्यांना मारहाण केली.”]

FACTLYReligion & belief

Video of Muslims thrashing a group of Hindus in front of a Mosque in Hubli, Karnataka

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video said to show Muslims attacking Hindus in front of a mosque in Hubli, Karnataka. FACTLY reports that the video was also circulated with that specific location and description, then identifies the footage instead as an incident in Bangladesh involving Touhidi Janata supporters and Muslim youths celebrating Eid. The review says the youths were playing music through loudspeakers in a moving truck, and that both groups involved were Muslim. To check the video’s origin, the review describes reverse image searches of screenshots from it. Those searches led to videos with similar visuals published by Bangladesh news channels, which reported that Touhidi Janata supporters had assaulted men playing loud music in a moving truck during Eid celebrations. The review also points to a video shared by Bangladeshi cleric Maulana Nazrul Islam Siraji on 6 May 2022, which it says shows the same footage and discusses the incident. The review further reports that Karnataka State Police’s fact-check team clarified that the incident took place in Bangladesh, not Hubli. Taken together, the described visual matches, Bangladesh reporting, and police clarification identify the footage as a Bangladesh incident rather than the claimed attack on Hindus in Karnataka.

FACTLYReligion & belief

An Islamic tomb is built inside the premises of ‘Gita Upadesh sthal’ in Kurukshetra

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a viral video said to show an Islamic tomb built inside the Gita Upadesh Sthal in Kurukshetra. The review says the video’s visuals do show that site, but identifies the tomb-like structure within them as a bhorkha—a structure built in memory of deceased ancestors—not an Islamic tomb. It reports that the structure had been built by a Hindu Brahmin family many years earlier. To investigate, the review compared screenshots from the viral video with an image in a news article found through reverse image search. It also describes consulting reporting by Aaj Tak, which contacted Vinod Sharma, a member of the family associated with the structure. Sharma said his family built it in memory of their ancestors. The review further reports that administrative and police officials ruled out the claim that the structure was Islamic and said it had been built by a Brahmin family from a nearby village. The review gives a reason the video could appear to support the claim despite those findings: miscreants placed a cloth bearing Islamic markings on the structure and circulated the video with a communal claim. In a later update, dated 13 May 2022, the review says Jyotisar police told FACTLY that the structure belonged to Hindus, that the cloth had been placed to spread false news, and that the structure had since been shifted.