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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

dpaReligion & belief

Rabbi Finkelstein onthult Joodse complotten.

Publisher’s rating: Het interview is een antisemitisch verzinsel, bedoeld om anti-Joodse complottheorieën geloofwaardig te maken. Het is pure fictie, ontsproten aan het brein van een notoire Amerikaanse antisemiet.

The claim concerns an audio interview in which a supposed Rabbi Abe Finkelstein describes alleged crimes by Jews against non-Jews. The review identifies the other speaker as James Wickstrom and says a transcript is available in the Internet Archive. It reports that the interview contains no biographical information about Finkelstein and that an online search found no information about him beyond the interview. The review therefore concludes that the purported rabbi does not exist and that the interview is fabricated. The review also examines how the audio has been presented online. It says the interview is audio-only, but has circulated alongside photographs said to show Finkelstein; one such image is actually of a lawyer. For the photo accompanying a Facebook video then circulating, the review says it could not establish the image’s origin. The earliest online version it found dates to 2006 and illustrated a joke about a Jewish rabbi and a Hare Krishna monk, rather than documenting the interview or identifying its speaker. As for the supposed revelations, the review describes Finkelstein’s language as a caricature, including incorrect use of stereotypical Jewish expressions. It says the claims about Jewish belief and people are false and that the alleged disclosures reinforce antisemitic stereotypes. The review also places the recording before July 2007, citing an article from that time that already referred to it. These findings address the claimed revelations as content of a fictitious interview, not as evidence that Jews committed the alleged acts.

Fact Crescendo AssameseReligion & belief

এইটো হাইদৰাবাদৰ হনুমান জয়ন্তী উদযাপনৰ ভিডিঅ’

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim identifies a viral video of a large procession as showing Hanuman Jayanti celebrations in Hyderabad. Fact Crescendo says it received the video for verification and used Google reverse-image search to trace earlier posts describing the footage as Holi celebrations in Kanpur and Indore. Its account of a report by the YouTube channel IBC-24 says similar footage, including a machine spraying coloured powder, was identified as Indore’s Holi “Ger” procession. The review describes Ger as a Holi procession tradition in which people gather from different parts of the city and proceed to historic Rajwada. To check the location, the investigation compared the video with a photograph of the same place found on the Indore district administration website. It also reports that the photograph had been shared on Instagram by Digi Maker on 25 March 2019. A co-founder of Digi Makers, Shubham, told Fact Crescendo Marathi that the photograph showed Rajwada Square in Indore and that the viral video was also filmed there; he said the building in the photograph and video was the same. The review says the architectural and design similarities were apparent in a comparison of the images. The review adds that a government website labelled the photograph as showing Rangpanchami celebrations, supporting its identification as Holi-related footage rather than the claimed Hyderabad event. It separately reports that Hyderabad held Hanuman Jayanti celebrations peacefully, with 106 processions according to a police report. That context does not make the viral footage Hyderabad footage: the location clues and the interview described in the review point to an older Indore Holi video.

YouturnReligion & belief

உத்தரகோசமங்கை மரகத நடராஜருக்கு பாலாபிஷேகம், பாலின் நிறம் என்னமாய் மரகதத்தின் கதிர்வீச்சால் நிறம்மாறி ஒளிர்கிறது. இதை பார்த்தவர்களின் மனதிலும் இதே அதிர்வலைகள் தோன்றி வாழ்வை மேன்மையாக்கும். இதனை அதிகம் பகிரவும். சிவாயநம.

Publisher’s rating: Fake

FACTLYReligion & belief

Rare video of Swami Vivekananda when he was alive

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a social-media video presented as rare footage of Swami Vivekananda while alive. FACTLY reports that it traced the footage to archival material and found that the person shown walking in traditional dress was Swami Yogananda, not Vivekananda. The review states that the video showed Yogananda visiting New York City.

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaReligion & belief

ගල්කන්දේ ධම්මානන්ද හිමි පැවසූ බවට හුවමාරු වන ව්‍යාජ සමාජ ජාලා සටහන් පෙළක්!

Publisher’s rating: False

The posts attributed to Galkande Dhammananda Thera a call to boil milk mixed with cow dung for Sinhala New Year as a way to oppose the government. The review says the posts circulated alongside an image made to look like a Sirasa “Pathikada” television segment. It reports finding no mainstream-media coverage of the alleged statement: “ගල්කන්දේ ධම්මානන්ද හිමියන් විසින් මෙවන් ප්‍රකාශයක් සිදු කර ඇති බවක් ප්‍රධාන ධාරාවේ මාධ්‍ය මගින් වාර්තා කර ඇතිද යන කාරණයයි.එහිදී අපට එවැනි සටහනක් දක්නට ලැබුණේ නැහැ.” (S1) The review then checked the segment shown in the viral image. It identifies the programme as a Vesak discussion broadcast on 8 May 2020, about the pandemic and the realities of life—not Sinhala New Year customs or opposition to the government. It says the monk made no remarks on those subjects during the programme: “එහිදී ගල්කන්දේ ධම්මානන්ද හිමියන් පවසන්නේ කොරෝනා අවදානම හමුවේ වෙසක් උත්සවය සහ ජිවිත යතාර්තයන් පිලිබඳවයි. එහිදී කිසිඳු අවස්තාවක සිංහල අවුරදු සිරිත් විරිත් සම්බන්ධ උන්වහන්සේ අදහස් දැක්වීමක් කරන්නේ නැති අතර වෙසක් පොහොය සම්බන්ධයෙන් හෝ ආණ්ඩුවට විරෝධය පළකරන අන්දමින් ප්‍රකාශයක් උන්වහන්සේ සිදුකරන්නේ නැහැ.” (S1) The review also reports that Dhammananda denied making the statement, both on his official Facebook page and in comments to the reviewers. Its conclusion is that the viral posts were fabricated by editing the theme of the earlier Vesak programme, rather than depicting remarks he made about New Year rituals: “ගල්කන්දේ ධම්මානන්ද හිමියන් තහවුරු කර සිටියේ තමන් කිසිදු අවස්ථාවක අවුරුදු සිරිත් විරිත් සහ දේශපාලනය සම්බන්ධ කර ගනිමින් සමාජ ජාලා වල පළවන ආකාරයේ ප්‍රකාශයක් සිදුකර නොමැති බවයි.” (S1)