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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

Photos of the Kali idol that was burned by the Muslims in West Bengal

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns photos circulated as showing a Kali idol burned by Muslims in West Bengal. FACTLY identifies the pictured idol as belonging to the Kali temple in Alampur village, Murshidabad district. It reports that the temple authority said the idol caught fire accidentally on 31 August 2020, and that the photos were being given a communal interpretation that did not exist in the incident described by the temple.

Fact CrescendoReligion & belief

Claim: Has Velankanni Church adopted elephants and converted them to Christianity

Publisher’s rating: False

Fact Crescendo investigated a photograph being shared with the claim that Velankanni Church had adopted elephants and converted them to Christianity. The review says it traced the image to Forona Catholic Church in Aruvithura, Kerala, where it was taken in August 2017—not to Velankanni in Tamil Nadu. It identifies the elephant as Mahadevan and says it belonged to the family of politician P. C. George.

FACTLYReligion & belief

Photo of Muslims forming human chains to protect Churches and Synagogues in Sweden

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post claimed that a photograph showed Muslims in Sweden forming human chains to protect churches and synagogues. The review says the image instead shows Muslim women forming a human shield at a synagogue in Oslo, Norway, in 2015. It reports that more than 1,000 Muslims formed a human chain there in solidarity against anti-Jewish violence in Denmark, not in connection with events in Sweden. [S1: “Photo in the post shows a group of Muslim women forming the human shield at a Synagogue in Oslo, Norway in the year 2015.”; “In 2015, over 1000 Muslims formed the human chains at a Synagogue in Oslo city to express their solidarity against the anti-Jewish violence in Denmark.”; “It has nothing to do with the recent Sweden riots.”] The review describes its image-checking method: a reverse image search found the same photo in a February 2015 article by +972 Magazine, which identified it as part of a solidarity protest at a synagogue in Oslo. The review also cites an Independent article featuring the event. These references support the distinction between the photo’s documented Norwegian setting and the claim that it depicted an event in Sweden. [S1: “On reverse image search, we found the same image in an article published on 23 February 2015, by ‘+972 Magazine’ website.”; “In the article, it is mentioned that the photo is related to a solidarity protest organized by the Muslim youth at a Synagogue in Oslo, Norway.”; “Sharing the same photo along with multiple other photos from the event, the ‘INDEPENDENT’ also published an article about this human chain organized by Muslims in Norway.”] The Swedish unrest described in the review was separate and later: violence erupted in Malmö on 25 August 2020 after anti-Islamic activities, including the burning of a Quran by members of the Danish far-right party Stram Kurs. The review says the photo was an old image from the 2015 solidarity protest in Norway, misleadingly recirculated as an image of Muslims in Sweden protecting churches and synagogues. [S1: “on ‘25 August 2020’, violence erupted in the Swedish city of Malmo where over 300 Muslims gathered to protest against anti-Islamic activities.”; “Protests began after a copy of the Quran was burned in Malmo by the members of far-right Danish party Stram Kurs (Hard Line).”; “an old 2015 photo related to the solidarity protest in Norway is falsely shared as the Muslims of Sweden forming human chains to protect Churches and Synagogues.”]