Keywords
religion, faith, spirituality, alternative dispute resolution
Abstract
This dialogue focuses on the relationship between religious/moral values and the various methods employed to resolve legal conflicts, with a primary focus on alternative dispute resolution techniques. General topics touched on include the intangible benefits of ADR (such as better relationships, transformative potential, and the effectiveness of apology) and new moral/ethical problems involved with practicing ADR. Joseph Allegretti explores two questions: (1) why Christianity provides a theoretical justification for ADR, and (2) what a Christian approach to ADR might look like. In an essay exploring the Jewish perspective on ADR, Robert Baruch Bush analyzes the Talmud's explicit preference for judges that seek compromise as opposed to traditional adjudication. In Creating Sacred Space in ADR, an essay advocating the embrace of a second-generation mediation practice, Dr. Sara Cobb argues that mediation is a moral practice on two levels: (1) it is about moral frameworks, and (2) it advances a morality of personal responsibility and accountability as a way of dealing with others. Walid Iqbal offers a perspective on ADR from the Islamic tradition, with a particular focus on the historical significance of "sulh" across several Islamic cultures. "Sulh" is Arabic for compromise, settlement, or agreement between the parties to a dispute. Randall Styers offers a Protestant perspective on representation, addressing the question of whether a lawyer can zealously represent a client without violating the lawyer's religious or humanistic beliefs. Styers focuses on the view, held by a growing number of contemporary Protestant theologians, that the values of the American political and legal system may not be completely compatible with the Christian faith.
Recommended Citation
James F. Henry, Joseph Allegretti, Robert A. Baruch Bush, and Dr. Sarah Cobb,
Dialogue on the Practice of Law and Spiritual Values,
28 Fordham Urb. L.J. 991
(2001).
Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ulj/vol28/iss4/5