The 50 Most Violent Cities in the World Are Mostly Catholic

Last Days Watchman ^ | Julio Severo

[juliosevero]

The 50 Most Violent Cities in the World Are Mostly Catholic

By Julio Severo

Business Insider reported a new ranking of the world's most violent cities, explaining that a full one-third of global homicides occur in Latin America, even though the region has just 8% of the world's population, according to UN data. It said,

"Drug trafficking, gang wars, political instability, corruption, and poverty contribute to the region's elevated violence. [This] ranking includes cities with a population of more than 300,000 and doesn't count deaths in combat zones or cities with unavailable data, so some dangerous cities might not be represented on the list."

This ranking does not include cities' religious predominance. But in this report, I will include it, because in Latin America religion has always been fundamental for its existence and inseparable from its national identity.

Most cities mentioned in this report are located in predominantly Catholic nations, according to The CIA World Factbook 2014, which reports the following religious predominance:

Honduras: Roman Catholic 97%.

Venezuela: Roman Catholic 96%.

Mexico: Roman Catholic 82.7%.

Brazil: Roman Catholic 73.6%.

Colombia: Roman Catholic 90%.

The United States, whose religious predominance is Protestant, is also represented in this report, with very violent cities. Coincidentally or not, all of these U.S. cities have a predominantly Catholic profile: St. Louis (predominantly Catholic), Detroit (predominantly Catholic), New Orleans (predominantly Catholic) and Baltimore (predominantly Catholic).

Here is the Business Insider report on the 50 most violent cities in the world:

1. San Pedro Sula, Honduras had 171.20 homicides per 100,000 residents.

2. Caracas, Venezuela had 115.98 homicides per 100,000 residents.

3. Acapulco, Mexico had 104.16 homicides per 100,000 residents.

4. Joao Pessoa, Brazil had 79.41 homicides per 100,000 residents.

5. Distrito Central, Honduras had 77.65 homicides per 100,000 residents.

6. Maceio, Brazil had 72.91 homicides per 100,000 residents.

7. Valencia, Venezuela had 71.08 homicides per 100,000 residents.

8. Fortaleza, Brazil had 66.55 homicides per 100,000 residents.

9. Cali, Colombia had 65.25 homicides per 100,000 residents.

10. Sao Luis, Brazil had 64.71 homicides per 100,000 residents.

11. Natal, Brazil had 63.68 homicides per 100,000 residents.

12. Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela had 62.13 homicides per 100,000 residents.

13. San Salvador, El Salvador had 61.21 homicides per 100,000 residents.

14. Cape Town, South Africa had 60 homicides per 100,000 residents.

15. Vitoria, Brazil had 57 homicides per 100,000 residents.

16. Cuiaba, Brazil had 56.46 homicides per 100,000 residents.

17. Salvador (and RMS), Brazil had 54.31 homicides per 100,000 residents.

18. Belem, Brazil had 53.06 homicides per 100,000 residents.

19. St. Louis, Missouri had 49.93 homicides per 100,000 residents.

20. Teresina, Brazil had 49.49 homicides per 100,000 residents.

21. Barquisimeto, Venezuela had 46.46 homicides per 100,000 residents.

22. Detroit, Michigan had 44.87 homicides per 100,000 residents.

23. Goiania, Brazil had 44.82 homicides per 100,000 residents.

24. Culiacan, Mexico had 42.17 homicides per 100,000 residents.

25. Guatemala City, Guatemala had 41.90 homicides per 100,000 residents.

26. Kingston, Jamaica had 40.59 homicides per 100,000 residents.

27. Juarez, Mexico had 39.94 homicides per 100,000 residents.

28. New Orleans, Louisiana had 39.61 homicides per 100,000 residents.

29. Recife, Brazil had 39.05 homicides per 100,000 residents.

30. Campina Grande, Brazil had 37.97 homicides per 100,000 residents.

31. Obregon, Mexico had 37.71 homicides per 100,000 residents.

32. Palmira, Colombia had 37.66 homicides per 100,000 residents.

33. Manaus, Brazil had 37.07 homicides per 100,000 residents.

34. Nuevo Laredo, Mexico had 34.92 homicides per 100,000 residents.

35. Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa had 34.89 homicides per 100,000 residents.

36. Pereira, Colombia had 34.68 homicides per 100,000 residents.

37. Porto Alegre, Brazil had 34.65 homicides per 100,000 residents.

38. Durban, South Africa had 34.48 homicides per 100,000 residents.

39. Aracaju, Brazil had 34.19 homicides per 100,000 residents.

40. Baltimore, Maryland had 33.92 homicides per 100,000 residents.

41. Victoria, Mexico had 33.91 homicides per 100,000 residents.

42. Belo Horizonte, Brazil had 33.39 homicides per 100,000 residents.

43. Chihuahua, Mexico had 33.29 homicides per 100,000 residents.

44. Curitiba, Brazil had 31.48 homicides per 100,000 residents.

45. Tijuana, Mexico had 29.90 homicides per 100,000 residents.

46. Macapa, Brazil had 28.87 homicides per 100,000 residents.

47. Cucuta, Colombia had 28.43 homicides per 100,000 residents.

48. Torreon, Mexico had 27.81 homicides per 100,000 residents.

49. Medellin, Colombia had 26.91 homicides per 100,000 residents.

50. Cuernavaca, Mexico had 25.45 homicides per 100,000 residents.

Because the overwhelming majority of these cities are Catholic, some questions are necessary. Why has not the Catholic religious influence been enough to protect these societies from pervasive social violence? Why has the Catholic Church in Latin America often embraced Liberation Theology to solve political, corruption, and poverty issues?

Christianity, in its New Testament format, was totally dependent on the Holy Spirit. There are God's promises that the transformational moves of Holy Spirit were not limited for the past, but they are also available for today:  

"And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy." (Acts 2:17-18 ESV)

The charismatic movement is a part of the fulfilment of this promise.

Yet, the Catholic Church in Latin America has frequently been much more open to Liberation Theology promises than to Bible promises about the transformational power of the Holy Spirit. Latin American Catholics have been also very open to syncretism with several forms of African religions like voodoo, Candomble and Santeria. Even in New Orleans, in the U.S., voodoo has been syncretized with the Catholic culture. Brazil, the largest Catholic nation in the world, is rife with Candomble, the Brazilian variety of voodoo, which is black magic. Is it a wonder that Brazil is more violent than nations in war?

Syncretism with African religions (which have been viewed as witchcraft by evangelical churches) is very old and widespread in Latin American Catholicism, especially in Brazil.

Despite these powerful dark inroads in the Latin American Catholic culture, the Catholic Church has been very limitedly open to the charismatic movement and especially to the power of the Holy Spirit against the witchcraft's powers.

In Catholic Latin America, witchcraft and Liberation Theology have helped promote violence, because their nature and spirit are demonic.

The Catholic Church in Latin America should seriously consider why she is less open to the transformational power of the Holy Spirit, why her members are more open to witchcraft and why her members and leaders are more open to Marxism.

With information from Business Insider.

Portuguese version of this article: As 50 cidades mais violentas do mundo sao quase todas catolicas

Source: Last Days Watchman

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Brazil: more violent than nations in war

[sergeantdave]

“The Europeans brutally subdued the people, looted and robbed them of a lot of their natural resources, sending them back to Europe.”

I see that you’ve got the usual leftist propaganda down pat, little troll. Without the Europeans, South American natives would still be running around in loin clothes, eating sacrificial human hearts and waiting for their fake god, Quetzalcoatl, to rain down cornucopia on their stupid heads.

[miss marmelstein]

Oh, probably because those dopes believe in transubstantiation. What else could it be?

[Ransomed]

“St. Louis (predominantly Catholic)”, that is, 16% Catholic

“Detroit (predominantly Catholic)”, that is, 17.3% Catholic

“New Orleans (predominantly Catholic)”, that is, 31.16% Catholic

“Baltimore (predominantly Catholic)”, that is, 11.85% Catholic.”

But each Catholic is trained from birth in the art of slaying by the Order of Albino Assassin Monks. So Catholics are obviously 300-500% more bloodthirsty than the average non-Catholic who doesn’t have this education of violence.

Obviously.

Freegards

[Mears]

“So the question is, why do Catholic colonized countries have such poverty, that naturally leads to crime.”

---

Spain and Portugal were the conquerors of South and Cenral America.

Spain and Portugal don’t have excessive crime rates.

Maybe it’s the indigenous genes that makes South and Central America violent.

.

.

[fingers_crossed]

Has Portugal ever experimented with Marxism or socialism?

[BlueDragon]

"What percentage of the homicides in, say, St.Louis, are perpetrated by Catholics?

Just scanning quickly over the article I had about the same thoughts in regards to Baltimore.

What percentage? Being those are both high crime areas I *think* it would be safe to say "lower than the lower average" (far lower once adjusted for whatever index used in comparison).

thought the wisecrack about the top listed cities being "all tropical" was pretty good too.

There is something about the South American cultures that certainly can't be blamed on white, Anglo-Saxon tea drinkers though.

Keep a stiff upper lip and think about long ago England divines.

Then there is the joke about the Quaker who was experiencing difficulties with a particularly stubborn mule.

He told the mule that if the mule continued to make trouble, "I won't beat thee. But I will sell you to the Baptist down the road, and he shall beat thee"

[GraceG]

[ The most pro-sodomy states also tend to be the most Catholic states.

Just an observation. ]

The top 5 are proto-communist oligarchies

[Balding_Eagle]

You say very few things that offend me, in fact I don’t think you’ve ever offended me, but that does.

Come on, no conservative takes joy in that kind of stuff, and as a Christian those kinds of things make my heart heavy.

We are to lift others up.

[Mrs. Don-o]

But it's such a fun game!

And as I understand it, anybody can play!

So let's take a look at the Global Homicide Statistics (LINK)--- the countries with the LOWEST homicide rates, and ---

Well, lookie here, what do we see?!

Keep in mind that we're comparing this to United States, (ahem) "predominantly" a Christian Protestant country (over 50%), with a homicide rate of 3.8.

I'm starting my list with the ones that have HALF that rate, or less:

Homicide rate per 100,000 population per year

Country	rate
Greece	1.7
Tajikstan	1.6
Finland	1.6
Belgium	1.6
Bulgaria	1.5
Romania	1.5
Canada	1.4
Macau	1.4
Slovakia	1.4
Macedonia	1.4
Andorra	1.3
Ireland	1.2
Croatia	1.2
Portugal	1.2
Serbia	1.2
Oman	1.1
Qutar	1.1
Australia	1.1
China	1.0
U.K.	1.0
Tonga	1.0
Hong Kong	0.9
France	1.0
Czech Republic	0.9
Italy	0.9
Austria	0.9
Netherlands	0.9
New Zealand	0.9
Saudi Arabia	0.8
Poland	0.8
Denmark	0.8
Spain	0.8
Germany	0.8
Luuxemburg	0.8
Algeria	0.7
Sweden	0.7
San Marino	0.7
Slovenia	0.7
Indonesia	0.6
Swtzerland	0.6
Bahrain	0.5
Kuwait	0.4
Polynesia (Fr)	0.4
Japan	0.3
Iceland	0.3
Singapore	0.2
Lichtenstein	0.0
Monaco	0.0

Hmm. Look at Canada, "predominantly" Catholic (twice as many Catholics as Protestants) and otherwise culturally somewhat cousins to the USA, eh? Canada's at 1.4 Now why would the neighboring Protestant counry, the USA, have more than double the homicide rate of Catholic Canada?

Let's not make too much of that.

Moving right along, of the dozen LEAST HOMICIDAL countries, 2 are Buddhist, 2 Protestant, 3 are Muslim, and 5 are Catholic.

Make of that what you want!

I don't think the religious hypothesis is panning out.

Maybe we could find a stronger correlation with diet or BMI or latitude or altitude or longevity or literacy or barometric pressure or global cooling-warming-jiggity-jigging--- it's gotta be something, right?

[Larry Lucido]

Awww that’s cute. Jack Chick has a blog called Last Days Watchman.

[BlueDragon]

Try distance from the equator again, like somebody else did.

In stark contrast to the hot zones, there's Antarctica.

Not much crime there.

Just Paul Watson's international pirate crews chasing Jap Minke whale harvesters --- woops --- I meant Jap Minke whale researchers.

I hear Greenland, up North, has a low crime rate per square mile kilometer.

But not a whole lot of crime out in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, even though it's kinda' close to the equator. It's a statistical outlier, I guess.

A few cocaine smugglers (some of them with home-made submarines), an oil well blow-out here and there, and between Mobile/Gulf Shores and the rest of the Gulf & Caribbean somebody occasionally throwing a candy-bar wrapper off a banana boat...

All in all, not too bad.

[juliosevero]

You should make an honest comparison between murder rates in Brazil (the largest Catholic nation in the world) and murder rates in America (the largest Protestant nation in the world).

[BlueDragon]

But each Catholic is trained from birth in the art of slaying by the Order of Albino Assassin Monks.

Only the *good* Catholics get that.

Ha! but just how many of *those* are there, anyway?

Bring back the old days (before the Jesuits began to ruin everything) when the pikemen would push and shove.

The only cavalry that enjoyed near-consistent success against those sharp pointy stick carrying 'Catholic' goons were the Pollock Hussars (who were not very *good* Catholics, most of them) but could fight pretty good anyway, even though a whole lot of 'em were only scarcely not heathen.

Not as heathen as those reindeer ridin' Finns though. Everbuddy learned to keep their distance from them Finns, or else got themselves another lesson of just why that was a good idea to remember. Hardly anyone bothers going there anymore. Too crowded (with Finns) and the reindeer aren't nearly as friendly there as they are in Los Angeles.

hmmm, these two appear to be looking at us with suspicion in their eyes...

Try...

Better?

Funny thing is, Finland enjoys a low per square kilometer crime rate, kinda' like Greenland, just different.

[Mrs. Don-o]

"You should make an honest comparison between murder rates in Brazil (the largest Catholic nation in the world) and murder rates in America (the largest Protestant nation in the world).

If you want to make a marginally more honest comparison, find out the percentage of homicides done in the US by church-attending Protestants, vs the percentage of homicides done in Brazil by church-attending Catholics.

They'd both suffer by comparison to Japan, (the largest Shinto nation in the world). Protestant USA has 12-fold the homicide rate of Japan.

Shinto must have some pow'ful spiritual mojo!

/s/

By now you must realize why so many FReepers are rolling their eyes at these grade-school-level comparisons.

[Mrs. Don-o]

And here's something else for you to ponder:

Indonesia has a larger Muslim population than any other country in the world, with approximately 202.9 million identifying themselves as Muslim (87.2% of Indonesia's total population.)

Muslim Indonesia's homicide rate: 0.6

God-bless-America's: 3.8

I think we'd both better find shelter under the maxim that correlation does not equal causation.

As a Catholic, I respect my Protestant brethren & sistren too much to carry this weary contention any further. Please have a blessed and restful good night.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I personally think it’s the cuisine.