Huckabee: Lack of christianity in classroom leads to violence in schools

Responding to the deadly mass shooting Friday in Newtown, Connecticut, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said new laws regulating guns won’t deter such shootings, linking a lack of religious discussion in the classroom to increased violence in schools.

“We ask why there’s violence in our school but we’ve systematically removed God from our schools,” Huckabee said on Fox News. “Should we be so surprised that schools have become such a place of carnage? Because we’ve made it a place where we don’t want to talk about eternity, life, what responsibility means, accountability.”

“That we’re not just gonna have to be accountable to the police if they catch us but one day we stand before a holy God in judgment. If we don’t believe that, then we don’t fear that,” he said.

“People are going to want to pass new laws,” Huckabee continued. “This is a heart issue … laws don’t change this kind of thing.”

Huckabee made similar comments following the mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, earlier this year saying violent acts should not be a surprise considering the removal of religion from public forums.

“We don’t have a crime problem, or a gun problem, or even a violence problem. What we have is a sin problem,” he said after the July shooting on Fox News. “And since we’ve ordered God out of our schools and communities; the military and public conversations… we really shouldn’t act so surprised when all hell breaks loose.”

Friday morning a gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and opened fire killing 20 students and six adults before apparently killing himself. The tragedy has intensified the debate over gun laws in the U.S.