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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

Recent Hijab Row – Video of a woman setting herself ablaze in an attempt to burn the hijab

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post linked a video of a woman setting herself on fire on top of a water tank to the Karnataka hijab protests, claiming she had tried to burn a hijab. FACTLY reports that the footage instead shows a teacher in Kapurthala, Punjab, and that the incident was unrelated to the hijab protests. To investigate the video’s provenance, FACTLY says it conducted a reverse image search using screenshots from the footage. That search led to a 2010 news report containing similar visuals and describing a woman who immolated herself on a water tank in Kapurthala. Further searches yielded other reports about the same incident. Those reports said the teacher set herself ablaze after climbing the tank on a Sunday evening to demand improved marks in her high-school exams, which she wanted to use to gain admission to an elementary teacher-training course. FACTLY notes that the reports do not mention burning a hijab. The older reporting and the described reason for the protest therefore contradict the social-media post’s framing of the video as a recent hijab-related act.

המשרוקית של גלובסReligion & belief

חמישית מהחתונות בישראל נערכות בסגנון רפורמי

Publisher’s rating: לא נכון

The claim concerned comments by MK Gilad Kariv in a Galatz interview on February 3: that one-fifth of weddings in Israel were conducted by Reform rabbis or in a Reform style. The Globes investigation compared that estimate with available marriage figures and sought clarification from Kariv and the Reform movement. It reported that, in 2019, about 33,000 Jewish couples married through rabbis recognized by the Chief Rabbinate, while the Reform movement said its clergy conducted about 250 weddings in Israel annually. The investigation also noted that an official religious-services report acknowledged an increase in Conservative and Reform marriages but gave no exact count. [S1: “במענה לפנייתנו השיבה התנועה הרפורמית בישראל כי מדי שנה הרבנים והרבות שלה עורכים כ-250 טקסי נישואין בשנה.”; “דו"ח של המשרד לשירותי דת מ-2019 קבע כי אכן \"יש עליה במספר... הנישואין שנערכים על ידי קונסרבטיבים ורפורמי\", אך לא נקב במספרים מדויקים.”] Kariv did not provide data to support the remaining weddings he included as being “in a Reform style”; according to the article, he defined the term as any egalitarian wedding. Because the state does not maintain a registry of these unrecognized ceremonies, the investigation considered overseas marriages as a possible proxy. In 2019, 9,550 couples registered in Israel after marrying abroad, but only 1,477 met the Reform movement’s stated criterion that both partners be Jewish. The article therefore concluded that even a broad estimate could not substantiate the one-fifth figure. [S1: “פנינו לקריב על מנת שיסביר למה התכוון או יספק ביסוס לנתונים שהשמיע, אך הוא סירב ומסר רק כי מבחינתו, \"חתונה בסגנון רפורמי - כל חתונה שוויונית\".”; “באותו דו\"ח של הלמ\"ס העוסק ב-2019 מצוין כי 9,550 זוגות נרשמו במרשם האוכלוסין לאחר שהתחתנו בחו\"ל.”; “ב-2019, רק 1,477 מתוך אותם 9,550 זוגות שהתחתנו בחו\"ל ענו על הגדרה זו”]

FACTLYReligion & belief

Video of Hindu extremists abusing Muslim girl students in Karnataka

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLY examined a social-media post claiming that a video showed Hindu extremists abusing Muslim girl students in Karnataka. The review identifies the clip as a ragging video from Eastern University in Sri Lanka, not footage of the alleged incident in Karnataka. It also distinguishes the clip from a separate, recently viral Karnataka video involving a Muslim student wearing a burqa and students in saffron stoles. To check the clip’s provenance, the review says it performed reverse image searches on screenshots. Those searches led to the same video uploaded to YouTube on 24 February 2019; its title identified Eastern University. FACTLY also describes finding an article with the same video that called it a ragging incident at the university. These findings place the footage in Sri Lanka years before the Karnataka claim. The review reports further examples of the same clip circulating in February 2019: Sri Lanka’s Lanka Sun News posted it as ragging footage from Eastern University, and Facebook users attributed it to that university. It also notes that the footage had previously been misrepresented as showing RSS members harassing Muslim college students. The key distinction is therefore between the old Sri Lankan clip and separate Karnataka footage—not whether the separate Karnataka confrontation occurred.

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaReligion & belief

නෙල්ලිගල නායක හාමුදුරුවන් මේ දිනවල රෝහල් ගත කළ බවට අසත්‍ය සටහන් පෙළක්!

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The post said that Nelligala’s chief monk was then receiving hospital treatment while working on the Kuragala temple. Fact Crescendo identifies the monk as Waththekumbure Dhammarathana and reports that the claim’s accompanying image was not evidence of a current hospitalization: the monk said it was taken during treatment after surgery in the previous November.

Rumor ScannerReligion & belief

ভারতের মুসকান। অন্য সময়ে স্কার্ট, জিন্স পরিধান করে। শুধু কলেজেই বোরখা পরে যায়। এইগুলান যে কোন লেভেলের ধর্মীয় বদমাশ সেটা চিন্তারও বাইরে। মাঝখানে ধর্মীয় জজবা চ্যাতায়ে দিয়ে আসন্ন নির্বাচনে বিজেপির লাভ করে দিলো

Publisher’s rating: False

FACTLYReligion & belief

Nine quotes about Hindutva and Hindus by Western Philosophers

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLY examined a social-media post attributing nine statements praising Hindus, Hindutva, or Hinduism to Western philosophers. Its conclusion was that it could find no evidence that the named people made those remarks. The review also noted a chronological problem with attributing comments specifically about Hindutva to two of the figures: the term came into prominence after V. D. Savarkar’s book *Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?* was published in 1923, by which time Leo Tolstoy and Nostradamus had died. The review describes its checks as searches for evidence of the attributed remarks. It reports finding none for the statements about Hindutva, Hindus, and Hinduism, and separately says it could find no evidence that the named people made similar remarks about Islam. That second point is additional context in the article; it does not establish that every philosopher held any particular religious view. The review notes that some had not described themselves as very religious, but presents that as a reason the extreme statements seemed unlikely—not as proof of authorship or non-authorship. The evidence supports the review’s conclusion that the quotations are unsubstantiated: the article identifies no source confirming the attributions and gives a chronology that makes the alleged Hindutva remarks problematic for Tolstoy and Nostradamus. Its stated finding is an absence of supporting evidence, rather than documentation identifying the actual authors or proving who composed the quotes.

FACTLYReligion & belief

‘Sri Sringeri Sharada Peetham’ seer has denied blessings to Rahul Gandhi and then Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for their alleged anti-Hindu stance

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns Rahul Gandhi and Siddaramaiah’s visit to the Sringeri mutt in March 2018. It alleges that the seer denied them blessings because of an anti-Hindu stance. FACTLY reports that the visit took place then and that both Karnataka Congress and Siddaramaiah shared photos and described the visit; the Congress post said the leaders received the seer’s blessings. The review says it found no report from a reputed news agency of the alleged denial.

FACTLYReligion & belief

Image of Lord Krishna on a Russian train, painted by ISKCON

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review investigates a viral image said to show Lord Krishna painted on a Russian train by ISKCON. It reports that the train image came from Australia, not Russia, and that the versions located on the Southern States Group (SSG) website and Facebook page show no Krishna painting. The review also says it found no reports of SSG painting Krishna on its trains or of Krishna paintings on Russian trains. To check the image, the review describes conducting a reverse image search, which led to a YouTube video showing a similar train. Further searching located the same train image on SSG’s website and Facebook page. Comparing those versions with the viral image, the review concluded that the Krishna image had been digitally added, rather than being part of the original train photograph. The review additionally reports that Melbourne’s Public Transport Gallery YouTube channel had videos of similar metro trains, but none showed trains bearing images of Krishna. It says it found no reports of ISKCON painting Krishna on Melbourne or Russian trains. On that evidence, the viral image does not establish that ISKCON painted the train or that it was in Russia.