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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 baby resurrected to life after her mother’s prayers to Jesus

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review examined a social-media video presented as showing a baby who had been declared dead after birth and then revived following her mother’s prayers to Jesus. It identifies the location as the Inácia Pinto dos Santos (Women’s) Hospital in Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brazil, and says the footage instead shows a naturally born baby who was doing well in the mother’s arms. The mother was praying in thanksgiving for her son’s life, and the baby cried during that prayer. To check the video’s provenance, the review says it reverse-searched screenshots and found versions shared by Facebook and YouTube users in 2020, including accounts identifying the hospital in Bahia. It also reports finding news articles describing the baby as naturally delivered and doing well. These checks point to the same footage and setting as the claim, rather than merely to a similar incident. The review’s key evidence is a statement it attributes to the hospital foundation, which manages the hospital. The statement says the claim that the baby was stillborn was untrue, that the newborn had been born naturally and was doing well, and that the baby cried while the mother prayed in thanksgiving. This directly contradicts the post’s account of a death and resurrection; the prayer and crying in the footage are presented with the omitted context of a living newborn and a mother giving thanks.

Vishvas NewsReligion & belief

सोशल मीडिया वर व्हायरल होत असलेल्या एका व्हिडिओ मध्ये मंदिरासारखी एक इमारत दिसते, ज्यावर जुंबाद सारखी एक आकृती दिसते. दावा केला जात आहे कि व्हिडिओ मध्ये दिसत असलेली इमारत वरून मंदिर तर खालून मस्जिद आहे.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLYReligion & belief

President Putin has announced Islam as the second State religion of Russia

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin had announced Islam as the country’s second state religion. FACTLY’s review says it searched online for reports of such an announcement and found none. It reasoned that a real announcement would likely have been covered by major news agencies, but reported that it found no such coverage. The review’s conclusion was that Putin had made no such announcement. To assess the claim against Russia’s legal framework, the review cited the 2021 U.S. State Department report on religious freedom in Russia and noted that similar statements appear in the Russian constitution. The cited report describes Russia as secular, says religious associations are equal and separate from the state, and identifies Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism as the country’s four traditional religions—not as state religions. It also distinguishes the special role recognized for Russian Orthodox Christianity from the constitutional principle that the state is secular. The review separately checked the image accompanying the post. It reports that the photo was taken in 2012 and says the same image appeared in older articles. This image check addresses the post’s visual material; the review’s stated basis for rejecting the announcement claim is the absence of reported announcement coverage and the distinction between traditional religions and a state religion.

FACTLYReligion & belief

Visuals showing Kathmandu Pasupathi Nath abhishekam

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim is that a video of sadhus performing abhishekam shows a ritual at Kathmandu’s Pasupathi Nath temple. FACTLY says the footage instead shows Maha Rudrabhishekam in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, and dates the visuals to 2017—more than four years before the review. The review’s conclusion is that the Kathmandu attribution is false. FACTLY describes its key check as a reverse-image search of the viral footage. That search led to a 2017 Telugu local news video containing the same visuals. According to the description and title reported by FACTLY, the video showed “Maha rudrabhishekam in Guntur” and was titled “Maha Rudrabhishekam @ Amma Ashramam.” This links the circulating images to a specific earlier video and location, rather than relying only on visual resemblance. The review also notes that similar rituals have taken place in different parts of the Telugu states, with sadhus performing the ceremony against a similar backdrop. It says it found no reports attributing similar visuals to Kathmandu’s Pasupathi Nath temple, and distinguishes the viral footage from visuals of that temple. Taken together, the cited earlier video and the lack of a Kathmandu attribution support the finding that the post misidentifies the footage’s origin.

FACTLYReligion & belief

Photo shows a temple that has been converted into a mosque

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a specific circulating photo said to show a temple converted into a mosque. FACTLY identifies the photographed structure as Sringar Chauri, a temple at Chittorgarh Fort in Rajasthan, and says the photo is not related to a mosque. This directly addresses the identity and location of the structure in the image, rather than a different site with a history of religious conversion. The review describes checking the photo with Google Reverse Image Search, which returned similar images. It also reports that a social-media user had posted the same photo in 2020 and that a reply identified the structure as Sringar Chauri at Chittorgarh Fort. These image matches and the earlier identification support the review’s conclusion about what the circulated photo depicts. The review additionally points to documentation on the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts website, describing the structure as a temple, and says that a photo on that website includes details about the temple. It also notes that Google Street View of the location can be seen. Taken together, the review’s image-search findings and its cited documentation support its identification of the site as a temple, not a mosque.

FACTLYReligion & belief

Kamala Devi Hazarika’s befitting reply to a Christian pastor

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The post attributes an anecdote about an elderly woman named Kamala Devi Hazarika teaching a Christian pastor about Hinduism to freedom fighter and social reformer Kamala Devi Chattopadhyay, using images of Chattopadhyay. FACTLY’s investigation found that the images were of Chattopadhyay, but found no credible reports linking her to the pastor story and no account of such an interaction in her biography. This challenges the attribution to Chattopadhyay; it does not, by itself, establish whether an incident involving someone else occurred. The review also looked for support for the name Kamala Devi Hazarika, reporting that it could not find a popular personality by that name from Assam. It traced versions of the anecdote online to at least 2017 and described a blog that credited a similar story to a book about religious conversions. The review says searches for that title found books focused on religious conversions targeting Hindus, with emphasis on northeastern states, and suggests the viral story may have been inspired by material in one of them. It presents this as a possibility, not as proof of the anecdote’s origin.

FACTLYReligion & belief

Buddha said, “When you like a flower, you just pluck it. But when you love a flower, you water it daily.”

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

FACTLY examined the claim that Buddha said, “When you like a flower, you just pluck it. But when you love a flower, you water it daily.” Its conclusion was that there was no evidence to attribute the saying to him. The review says its online search did not find credible evidence confirming that Buddha made a statement like this, and notes that a site devoted to debunking quotes misattributed to Buddha likewise rejects the attribution. It also mentions that Quotationize calls it a bogus Buddha quote. [S1] The review describes the saying as circulating in several forms and says versions have been presented as a conversation between Alexander the Great and Socrates, or attributed to Osho. It distinguishes those appearances from evidence of Buddha’s authorship: resemblance to other circulating versions does not establish that he said it. [S1] FACTLY traces attribution of this quotation to Gautama Buddha back at least to 2019, when it says Harsh Goenka tweeted it. The review also notes that verified social-media accounts shared the quote without attributing it to Buddha. These details document how the saying circulated, but the review presents no primary source establishing Buddha as its author. [S1]

FACTLYReligion & belief

Video of Miracle in Kaaba where the door was opened, and prayers were performed by unseen figures

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review examined a social-media video presented as a miracle at the Kaaba: the door opens and prayers appear to be performed by unknown or unseen figures. Its account identifies the scene differently: workers were preparing the entrance for a visiting political delegation during prayers, rather than the video showing supernatural figures performing prayers. The article says the door is opened for leaders and other influential visitors to perform Umrah. To investigate the video, the review reports conducting reverse image searches on screenshots. It says this led to a Facebook post with similar imagery that described the circulating paranormal-activity claim as false and identified the footage as being from Ramadan, when the door was opened for a Muslim leader visiting the Haram. The review also reports that a Saudi media outlet had fact-checked the same viral video. The explanation offered is that the people visible at the entrance were workers preparing it for the delegation, and that the opening occurred during Tahajjud prayers. That account supplies an ordinary setting for the apparent opening and activity at the entrance, rather than evidence of a miracle. The excerpt does not name the visiting leader or the Saudi outlet, or give a specific date for the footage, so those details cannot be established from the material provided.