A Rabbi, a Minister, and a Mediator Walk Into a Room: Resolving Conflict Through a Clergy Lens

Clergy spend their careers untangling human conflict, often long before a dispute reaches a courtroom or a negotiating table. This program brings a rabbi and a pastoral counselor together to discuss how faith traditions handle anger, betrayal, reconciliation, and the limits of confidentiality. Rabbi Michael Gottlieb, a congregational rabbi of more than thirty years whose writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, counsels families through grief and discord using moral and textual sources. Dr. Tim Lane, a former pastor who now runs a Christian counseling practice in the Atlanta area, brings hundreds of cases involving marital conflict, infidelity, and reconciliation. The discussion covers when clergy refer matters to lawyers and therapists, the value of clarification over agreement at an impasse, mandatory reporting obligations, and the principle that words carry the weight of actions. The panel is moderated by ADR section co-chairs Jeff Kravitz and Robert Cohen. Attendees leave with a fresh perspective on dispute resolution drawn from outside the law.