HOUSTON — One week after a notable Houston pastor received some backlash following comments he made during a sermon, Dr. Ed Young with Second Baptist Church reiterated his statements.
"I had no idea that when you stood up and simply read the best crime statistics I could put together for city and county," Young said before being interrupted by a standing ovation. "All the figures are somewhat mushy."
Young posted his response on the church's Facebook page prior to reading off a list of numbers again on Sunday that he said details the violent crime in Houston and Harris County.
Young said the national average crime rate of a U.S. city is 22.7 while the crime rate in Houston was 50.4 on the FBI scale he was referencing. He also said for property crime, the national average stood at 35.4, while Houston's rate was 63.2.
"I rest my case that Houston arguably is one of, if not the most dangerous city in America," Young said. "And that is a tragedy."
The FBI keeps crime data from cities across the county and releases it four times a year. Currently, only the first three months of the year are available online.
When sorted by overall crime, Houston comes in at the top. However, the numbers are misleading because of how information is collected. New York City and Los Angeles are missing from the list and Chicago only partially reports.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner recently raised concerns about Young's claims.
“When people say that Houston is the most dangerous city, I take offense to that,” Turner said in a previous interview.
KHOU 11 News asked Turner for comments on Young's most recent sermon:
“We have addressed the questions about crime factually and truthfully. Crime Stoppers Houston, the Houston Police Department and KHOU Channel 11 have all accurately reported the numbers in the city of Houston.
"Houston is not the most dangerous city in America. I cannot stop people from saying that for their own purposes. Having said that I pray that the facts and truth will always prevail. My focus will continue to be on keeping every Houstonian safe, and I pray for that daily.”
The bulk of Young’s Sunday sermon focused on religious and political views regarding transgender youth and rights. KHOU 11 reached out to Second Baptist Church which declined further comment.