Working With All Creeds : Fundamentalists are kicked off a school board in San Diego County

We hear a lot of talk nowadays about “values,” about politically active Christian fundamentalists and about the separation of church and state. A vote of the public--in suburban Vista in San Diego County this week--in which members of a Christian conservative bloc on the school board were recalled suggests something about the ordinary citizens in the middle of this debate.

In a democracy, it is they--not the courts, not the legislatures and not even the religious leaders--who at key moments pass judgment on where religious beliefs cross the line into the realm of intolerance. We are not enamored of recalls as a rule, but this one did coincide with a regularly scheduled general election, thus adding no expense. The results suggest that voters are wise enough to distinguish between legitimate concern over public morality and a narrow ideological agenda.

The height of Thomas Jefferson’s celebrated “wall of separation” between church and state has been challenged aggressively in recent years. In several parts of the United States, the wide-ranging conflict has led to litigation involving strict separatists like Americans United for Separation of Church and State and, increasingly, politically active groups like the Christian Coalition. Somewhere between lie citizens like those who voted this week in Vista.

Amid the din of the “culture wars” over abortion, prayer in schools, questions of human sexuality and other issues, it is not always easy to identify exactly how high or low “the wall” is perceived to be, given the concerns shared by diverse Americans for the moral and spiritual health of the nation. Some recent polls have found that many are very worried about the moral fabric of society. However, those same surveys suggest that the public does not necessarily buy into the agenda of those on the so-called religious right.

The Vista vote is another indication that Americans are uncomfortable with a narrow and intolerant approach to public education. One successful board candidate said that the job was to “work with the entire community.” She is right. In our diverse society, leaders of key institutions like the schools must serve all the people.