Berkley Center

What does democracy have to do with the culture of encounter? When I initially considered this question, I thought, “Not very much.” 

Democracy, in my view, was associated primarily with an abstract set of rules and procedures of governance. The questions it considered included who gets to vote, how those votes count, and what sort of representation those votes generate to the various governing bodies of the community. Do the voters directly elect candidates? Or do they elect electors? On a secondary level, democracy raised checks and balances, including the specification of fundamental rights that no legislature could undermine or negate.

On the other hand, the language of “encounter” struck me as almost pre-political or even para-political. It seemed to be a word that belongs in the intimate realm of family and close friends, a realm where vulnerability is treated with tenderness rather than exploited. And let’s face it, we don’t think of politicians as tenderly caring for their constituents. At most, we think of them offering a quid pro quo: we will give this service, not because you need it, but because you vote for us.

Over the course of the symposium, however, I began to see the fruitful impact of the idea of encounter on democracy as both a theoretical ideal and a practical political way of life. Democracy is rule by the demos—the people. But what is a person? And why is a person valuable? And why should we bother creating a political life respecting the people around us as free and equal citizens?

Pope Francis defines a culture of encounter as “a culture of friendship, a culture in which we find brothers and sisters, in which we can also speak with those who think differently, as well as those who hold other beliefs, who do not have the same faith. They all have something in common with us: they are images of God, they are children of God."

In this compact definition of a culture of encounter, we can discover the resources both to justify and to fortify democratic practices. We are justified in treating others as free and equal to us because they are also the children of God, and made in God’s image just as we are. The fact that we come from the same family means that we can be confident that we share a substantial overlap in interests and concerns, despite our apparent differences. And, as with brothers and sisters who grow up together, we can learn to talk together and to settle our disputes peacefully, despite our different beliefs. Civic friendship based in our common identity as children of God creates a basic goodwill toward our siblings and fellow citizens. That goodwill is a foundational component of democratic life.