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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

Vishvas NewsReligion & belief

এইগৰাকী বিষাক্ত মহিলাৰ প্ৰকৃত ৰূপটো চাও.. পিছফালৰ ছেল্ফত এখন কিতাপ আছে, যাৰ নাম… How to convert India into christian nation’ ইমানৰ পিছতো যদিহে কাৰোবাৰ কিবা সন্দেহ থাকে, তেন্তে তেওঁ নিশ্চিতভাৱে হিন্দু লোক হ’ব নোৱাৰে।

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLYReligion & belief

Video of Muslims thrashing a Hindu in Rajasthan

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video presented as showing Muslims assaulting a Hindu in Rajasthan. FACTLY identifies the footage as showing a violent clash between two Hindu families, not a communal attack. The incident took place on 19 September 2021 at Mansagar Khatik Mohalla, near the Mahamandir police station area in Jodhpur. The review describes how it traced the footage: a reverse image search of screenshots located an extended version tweeted by a Dainik Bhaskar journalist on 20 September. The journalist identified the incident as taking place in Jodhpur and linked to a Dainik Bhaskar report. According to FACTLY’s account of that report, people from two families fought with sticks and swords; five people were injured and all ten accused were arrested. FACTLY also cites a Patrika report and its account of the police explanation: an argument following a local religious gathering escalated into a fight, and youths later attacked a man with weapons. Patrika listed the ten accused, and FACTLY says none of the names was Muslim. Separately, FACTLY says a Mahamandir police official confirmed that both families belonged to the same Hindu community, and that the FIR it accessed described the same incident and named the accused. These findings address the video’s setting and the communal attribution made in the claim.

FactcrescendoReligion & belief

হিন্দু ধর্মের ভগবান রামচন্দ্রের জন্মভূমি অযোধ্যায় নবনির্মিত রেল স্টেশনের দৃশ্য

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a photograph of a gleaming station with multiple platforms and trains, shared as a view of the newly built railway station in Ayodhya, the birthplace of Ram. The review reports that the post’s caption described the station as being next to the Ram temple and suggested that work was nearly complete. Its investigation instead identifies the image as a conceptual design for New Delhi railway station, not a photograph of a completed Ayodhya station. To trace the image, the reviewers say they used reverse image search and found it in a 2016 blog post about the future of New Delhi railway station. They then searched for relevant terms and located the design in Arup’s “Future of Rail 2050” report. The review says the image appears on page 8 with a caption identifying it as the redevelopment of New Delhi railway station. These findings establish the image’s stated provenance and conflict with the post’s identification of it as an Ayodhya station. The review also points to a Live Hindustan report that used the image in connection with plans to upgrade New Delhi railway station. It describes the proposed renovation as costing about 6,500 crore rupees and giving the station an airport-like design. The available evidence therefore supports the conclusion that a future New Delhi station design was presented as an existing Ayodhya station; it does not establish that the pictured station was newly built in Ayodhya.

FACTLYReligion & belief

Image of a Mosque in Turkey

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a social-media image presented as showing a mosque in Turkey. FACTLY’s review says the pictured structure is neither a mosque nor in Turkey: it is a former NSA listening station at Teufelsberg hill in Berlin, Germany. The image therefore depicts a Cold War intelligence facility, not the religious building and location asserted in the post. The review describes its identification method as a reverse image search. That search returned news articles carrying the same image, which identified the structure as a defunct National Security Agency listening station. FACTLY also points to reporting by DW for the site’s history and location: the station was built on Teufelsberg, a manmade hill in Berlin’s Grunewald forest. For historical context, the review says the facility was used by American and British intelligence during the Cold War to intercept communications in Russian-controlled East Germany, and that it remained in use until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The review’s conclusion rests on identifying the image as this Berlin station, which contradicts both the claim that the structure is a mosque and the claim that it is in Turkey.

FACTLYReligion & belief

“అఫ్గానిస్తాన్‌లో జరిగిన పరిణామాలతో విసుగు చెంది, ఇస్లాం మీద అసహ్యంతో, గత 2 నెలల్లో సుమారు 5000 మంది ముస్లిం అమ్మాయిలు హిందూ అబ్బాయిలను పెళ్లి చేసుకున్నారు” – ఆల్ ఇండియా ముస్లిం పర్సనల్ లా బోర్డు అధ్యక్షుడు

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

FactcrescendoReligion & belief

এবছর গুজরাটে ধূমধাম ভাবে গণেশ পূজা পালন করলো মুসলিম সম্প্রদায়ের লোকেরা

Publisher’s rating: MISSING CONTEXT

The claim concerns a social-media video presented as showing Muslims in Gujarat celebrating Ganesh Puja “this year.” Factcrescendo reports that the clip identifies the setting as Ahmedabad and features a Muslim man named Aslam who had celebrated the festival for five years. The investigation says the post’s timing was misleading: the footage showed an event from 2013, not a celebration in the year claimed by the post. Its conclusion was that the circulating post was false and unfounded. (S1: “গুজরাটের আহমেদাবাদ শহরে ২০১৩ সালে মুসলিম ব্যক্তির গণেশ পূজা পালনের ভিডিওকে এবছরের দাবি করে ভুয়ো পোস্ট ভাইরাল করা হচ্ছে।” ) To check the video’s provenance, the review says it searched YouTube using relevant keywords and found the same viral video on the local Hindi news channel Jano Duniya, uploaded on September 10, 2013. It then used that report as a lead for a keyword search, finding a DNA report dated the same day. That reporting identified the man as Aslam Mansuri, from Bapunagar Colony in Ahmedabad district, and described him as having celebrated Ganesh Puja for five years. (S1: “ভাইরাল ভিডিওটি ২০১৩ সালের ১০ সেপ্টেম্বর আপলোড করা হয়েছে যার শিরোনামে লেখা রয়েছে ‘একজন ধর্মপ্রাণ মুসলমান ৫ বছর ধরে গণেশ চতুর্থী উদযাপন করছেন’।” ) The review also says it found a photograph of the Ahmedabad celebration in an NDTV gallery about Ganesh Puja celebrations across India in 2013, and compared that image with a screenshot from the viral video. Together, the video’s 2013 upload, contemporaneous reporting, and the image comparison support the review’s finding that older footage was recirculated as a current event. The supplied text does not establish that no Muslims celebrated the festival in Gujarat in the claimed year; it establishes that this particular video was from 2013. (S1: “২০১৩ সালে ভারতের বিভিন্ন প্রান্তে উদযাপিত গনেশ পূজা পালনের ছবি সংক্রান্ত সংবাদমাধ্যম ‘এনডিটিভি’-এর একটি ছবির গ্যালারীতে আহমেদাবাদ শহরে উদযাপিত এই গণেশ পুজার ছবি পাওয়া যায়। নিচে উপরোক্ত প্রতিবেদনের ছবি এবং ভাইরাল ভিডিওর স্ক্রিনশটের তুলনা দেওয়া হল।” )

Vishvas NewsReligion & belief

কিছু মানুষ স্যোশাল মিডিয়ার মাধ্যমে একটি ভিডিও ভাইরাল করে সাম্প্রদায়িক উত্তেজনা ছড়ানোর চেষ্টা করছে। এই ভিডিওতে, বিপুল সংখ্যক মানুষকে একটি নির্দিষ্ট ধর্মের ধর্মীয় স্থানের সামনে মিছিল বের করতে দেখা যাচ্ছে। উজাররা দাবি করছেন যে এই ভিডিওটি উজ্জয়নের।

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLYReligion & belief

Mother Teresa converted Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal into Christianity and thereafter, he volunteered for Missionary of Charity for 6 months

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The review examined a social-media claim that Mother Teresa converted Arvind Kejriwal to Christianity in 1992 and that he subsequently volunteered for Missionaries of Charity for six months. It says the claim appeared in a screenshot attributed to Prashant Patel Umrao, but the reviewer could not confirm that he had posted it: a search of his Twitter handle did not find the tweet, and it was no longer available there. The review therefore distinguishes the unverified attribution from the underlying claim about Kejriwal. (S1: “A screenshot of a tweet purportedly made by Supreme Court lawyer and BJP Uttar Pradesh spokesperson Prashant Patel Umrao is being shared on social media claiming that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is an anti-Hindu and a Crypto Christian.”; “On searching for this tweet on the Prashant Patel Umrao’s Twitter handle, we could not find this tweet. However, we could not confirm if he made any such tweet.”) The investigation found support for a narrower part of the story: Kejriwal had worked with Mother Teresa and volunteered for Missionaries of Charity. It reports that Kejriwal himself confirmed working with her for a few months at Nirmal Hriday Ashram in Kolkata. It also cites a News 18 interview in which he described interactions with Mother Teresa, and reports that he joined the charity after resigning from Tata Steel. These details support volunteer work, but do not establish the alleged conversion or six-month duration. (S1: “Arvind Kejriwal through a tweet confirmed that he had worked with Mother Teresa for few months at Nirmal Hriday Ashram in Kolkata.”; “According to the ‘News 18’ article, Arvind Kejriwal joined Missionaries of Charity after he resigned from Tata Steel in Jamshedpur.”) On conversion, the review says it found no evidence that Kejriwal became Christian in order to volunteer. It notes that in a 2013 India TV report, he described feeling guilty when people in villages were turning to Christianity and questioned whether Hinduism was doing enough for them; the review says he did not say that he had converted. It also cites his self-description as a devout Hindu and Hanuman follower in interviews. Thus, the evidence presented supports charitable work while leaving the conversion claim unsubstantiated; it does not turn the inability to verify the tweet’s authorship into proof that the underlying claim is true or false. (S1: “But he had never said that he converted to Christianity to serve Missionaries of Charity.”; “Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in multiple interviews proclaimed himself as a ‘devout Hindu’ and a follower of Hanuman.”)

FACTLYReligion & belief

Video of Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations at a temple in South Africa

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns a video presented as recent Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations at Sree Ganesh temple in Entebbe, South Africa. FACTLY’s review says the footage instead shows an older celebration at Shree Ganesh temple in Entebbe, Uganda, and states that it “has nothing to do with South Africa.” This directly addresses both the temple setting and the claimed country. The review describes how the footage was checked: screenshots from the video were subjected to reverse-image search, which led to similar visuals in social-media videos posted in 2017. Those users identified the celebration as being at Shree Ganesh temple in Entebbe, Uganda. The review also reports that Rahul C. Mushrif, the temple’s chairman, confirmed to Boom that the video was filmed during the temple’s 2017 Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations. Together, the earlier posts and the chairman’s confirmation establish that the video is from Uganda in 2017, not a recent celebration in South Africa. The review further says Mushrif shared with Boom a poster for the 2017 event. Its conclusion is therefore based on the video’s earlier circulation and event-specific identification, rather than on the visual appearance of the footage alone.

Fact CrescendoReligion & belief

Claim: fake news shared that DMK govt dispatched lord ganesh idols in garbage truck I விநாயகர் சிலைகளை குப்பை லாரியில் எடுத்துச் சென்றதா தி.மு.க அரசு?

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a viral photo presented as showing the Tamil Nadu DMK government loading Ganesh idols into garbage trucks after they were seized from public places. The review says the post circulated with that allegation and that it investigated whether the incident happened in Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh. It reports that the image was shared on Facebook on September 8, 2021.