America's Christian Right is defined largely by the "culture war" they want to wage against modernity: secularism, science, reproductive rights, and the Enlightenment generally. Mike Huckabee is an enthusiastic supporter of this culture war, arguing that any and all problems with America can be attributed to the groups and ideas which he most dislikes. One of the worst aspects of this attitude is how some Christians latch on to any tragedy to promote their theocratic vision. Mike Huckabee is certainly no exception to this, arguing that only his religion and his god can cure whatever ails America.
In Kids Who Kill: Confronting Our Culture of Violence, Mike Huckabee offered this reaction to the Jonesboro, Arkansas school shooting:
Despite all our prosperity, pomp, and power, the vaunted American experiment in liberty seems to be disintegrating before our very eyes. ...
Abortion, environmentalism, AIDS, pornography, drug abuse, and homosexual activism have fragmented and polarized our communities. ...
It is now difficult to keep track of the vast array of publicly endorsed and institutionally supported aberrations - from homosexuality and pedophilia to sadomasochism and necrophilia.
Note what Mike Huckabee is trying to use to "explain" tragedies like school shootings: women exercising a right to control their own bodies through abortion, people trying to clean up the environment, sexually explicit material, gays fighting for equality, use of recreational drugs (other than alcohol and nicotine, I suppose), and a fatal disease that no one actually seeks out. How is any of this connected to school shootings?
In fact none of it is connected, but Mike Huckabee disagrees with it all and instead of offering substantive arguments against them, he's making an emotional appeal. Even worse, it's a false emotional appeal because he's relying on outrage over a situation that simply isn't relevant — no one will stop school shootings by criminalizing abortion, forcing gays back in the closet, or eliminating laws to protect the environment.
A second thing worth noting is how Mike Huckabee is sending the message that all of those things which he doesn't like are contrary to "the vaunted American experiment with liberty." Evidently, we are supposed to believe that women exercising freedom to not have a child is contradictory to liberty, that gays having equal rights is contradictory to liberty, and that the freedom to use mind-altering substances is contradictory to liberty.
How can it be that people who are exercising their liberties are undermining the American experiment in liberty? Perhaps an answer lies in how often religious conservatives complain about people who "abuse" their liberty by engaging in behavior that conservatives dislike. For such people, "liberty" exists solely to believe the "truth" of Christianity and obey the "truth" of Christian laws. There is no liberty in falsehood, error, heresy, and sin.
The most true thing which Mike Huckabee has to say is how communities have been "fragmented" and "polarized" over many of these issues. Much of what Christian Nationalists fight for can be understood as attempts to achieve greater unity and social cohesion — specifically around their interpretations of Christian doctrines. The increasing diversity in America has, among other things, brought more debate and disagreement about fundamental values. In the past traditional Christian answers and beliefs could be assumed and shared among most citizens; today, though, they are in fact rejected and this upsets many Christians.
