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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

Video of a bulldozer removing Hindu gods’ idols

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns a video presented as recent footage of Hindu gods’ idols being removed by bulldozers. FACTLY reports that the footage instead shows Dashama idols on the Sabarmati riverbank in Ahmedabad being lifted by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation in 2019. The review explains that the corporation had asked citizens to leave the idols there to help prevent pollution, and devotees did so.

FACTLYReligion & belief

Actor Yash announced a donation of 50 Crore for the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review examines a social-media post claiming that Kannada actor Yash visited Ayodhya and announced a donation of 50 crore for the Ram Mandir. It reports that the image used in the post does not show the claimed visit: a reverse-image search led investigators to an Indian Express report about Yash’s Tirupati visit ahead of the release of KGF Chapter 2, and the review says one photograph in that report is the same image as in the viral post. The review also describes searches for evidence of the alleged donation. It says keyword searches found no relevant information validating an announcement, and searches of Yash’s official Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts found no relevant information that he had visited Ayodhya. Its conclusion is that a photograph from his Tirupati visit was used to support the Ayodhya claim. The excerpt establishes the image’s reported earlier context and the review’s unsuccessful searches; it does not provide direct evidence of Yash’s whereabouts beyond those findings.

FACTLYReligion & belief

Video of a Muslim man objecting the display of National Flag on vehicles

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video presented as showing a Muslim man objecting to Hindu youths displaying India’s national flag on their vehicles. FACTLY’s review says the man repeatedly tells them, “You shouldn’t put National flag on Vehicles,” but concludes that the footage is scripted rather than a genuine incident. The review’s description of the video’s content matches the claim being checked. [S1: “In this video a Muslim man can be seen arguing with Hindu youth by repeatedly shouting ‘You shouldn’t put National flag on Vehicles’.”] The key evidence reported by FACTLY is a disclaimer visible in the video at 2:08. The review says it watched the video and found the disclaimer at the bottom of the screen for a couple of seconds. It states that the disclaimer identifies the events as fictional and scripted, and says the video was made for awareness. That on-screen notice directly undermines treating the depicted confrontation as a real event. [S1: “We watched the video carefully and found that at 2:08 minutes, a disclaimer appears at the bottom of the screen for a couple of seconds.”] [S1: “The disclaimer reads ‘This Video is a complete fiction, all the events in the video are scripted and made for awareness purpose only.”] FACTLY also reports finding an extended version on YouTube, uploaded on 14 August 2022. In that version, the man explains that flags on vehicles might fall and be walked on, which he calls disrespectful. This gives the scene an awareness-message context; it does not establish that a real Muslim man confronted the youths as portrayed. The review says it could not identify the original creator. [S1: “Upon further investigation, we came across an extended version of this scripted video on YouTube uploaded on 14 August 2022.”] [S1: “We couldn’t find out the original creator of this video.”]

FACTLYReligion & belief

Author Salman Rushdie made these damaging comments on Muslims – “𝑴𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑷𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒓 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂, 𝑵𝒊𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂 𝒐𝒓 𝑺𝒚𝒓𝒊𝒂, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒉, 𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒐𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒎, 𝒃𝒐𝒎𝒃 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒔, 𝒑𝒐𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒋𝒊𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑰𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒎.”

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim attributes a sweeping anti-Muslim statement to author Salman Rushdie, alleging that Muslims across countries and backgrounds seek to destroy nations through terrorism, violence and jihad. FACTLY’s review examined that specific attribution in the context of a social-media post circulating after an attack on Rushdie. The review reports finding a tweet in which Rushdie said he had never made the comments and asked Twitter to remove the post. It also says the reviewers searched his books, speeches and interviews and found no such statement. Those checks are described in the review; the supplied excerpt does not reproduce the tweet or identify the search terms or individual works examined. The review provides a comparison point from a 2013 interview with Sekhar Gupta. Asked about the future of the Islamic world, Rushdie spoke about modernization, freedom and liberty. FACTLY characterizes him as critical of Islamic fundamentalism but distinguishes that criticism from the viral wording, concluding that the attributed statement was not his.

Factcrescendo Sri LankaReligion & belief

Born Again අනුගාමිකයින් පිරිසක් නිරුපණය වන සේයාරුවක් ද? (PHOTO)

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The claim attached to the photograph described it as a Born Again gathering and named several people it said were present. The review investigated that specific image, rather than a separate photograph or a general allegation about the people named. It reports that the image was shared with a caption calling it a “Born Again MEETUP.” The people shown, however, were identified by those contacted for the investigation as members of the Eisenhower Fellowship – Sri Lanka. The publisher says it sought information from the media secretary of MP Eran Wickramaratne and contacted several other people pictured, including Saliya Pieris, Harshana Purasinghe, Dulith Herath and Ruwanthi de Chickera. The secretary said the photo showed Eisenhower Fellowship members meeting, and the other people contacted gave the same account. They said the gathering took place at a member’s home in Colombo several years earlier. The secretary also said the photo was taken before the 2019 presidential election and included leaders from different fields and religions. The review describes further checks beyond those accounts: it compared the circulated image with earlier photographs on the Eisenhower Fellowship–Sri Lanka Facebook page and found many of the same people at those gatherings. It also says that additional people visible in the photo appeared on the fellowship’s Sri Lankan member list. Taken together, the reported identifications and comparisons indicate that the image shows a fellowship gathering, not evidence that the pictured group was a Born Again meeting.