Author Archives: abfifer

A Better Way to Argue

December 21, 2015 – 9:34 am

New research has shown that framing your argument from your opponent’s “moral perspective” is much more likely to be persuasive. Professors Rob Willard, from Stanford, and Matthew Feinberg at University of Toronto, conducted a set of six studies involving over one thousand people, to determine how re-framing based on moral perspective could be persuasive in political […]

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Restorative Justice in GR

December 16, 2015 – 8:02 pm

“Restorative Justice” is a relatively new concept that is fast replacing disciplinary proceedings for students who have conflicts with other students. Our Dispute Resolution Center in Grand Rapids has worked with a couple of area school districts to establish restorative justice programs, with good results. Restorative justice in schools often takes the form of restorative circles. A […]

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Christian Arbitration Critiqued

November 21, 2015 – 8:45 pm

The New York Times published a three-part series earlier this month on arbitration; the third part focused on Christian arbitration (“In Religious Arbitration, Scripture is the Rule of Law”). The authors note that a religious arbitration allows people of the same faith to resolve their dispute based on similar values, achieving not just a settlement, […]

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“Mediators” Win Nobel Peace Prize

October 12, 2015 – 10:53 am

The 2015 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to four organizations that have in effect been mediating to keep peace in Tunisia. The four organizations—a labor union, a trade group, a human rights league, and a lawyers’ group—comprise the National Dialogue Quartet, formed in 2013 to help Tunisia move beyond its 2011 revolution to build […]

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Four Steps to Ask for Forgiveness

September 30, 2015 – 12:01 pm

An article in this week’s New York Times describes “How to Ask for Forgiveness, in Four Steps.” The four steps are: Admit vulnerability (which includes taking responsibility, and acknowledging the impact that one’s offense had on others); Apologize; Ask for forgiveness; and Practice forgiving. These are good reminders that there’s a process to asking for […]

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