Cross-National and Cross-Religious Variation in Religiosity–Forgiveness Associations

Prior research has shown that higher levels of religiosity and experiencing God/the Divine as loving and forgiving are positively associated with interpersonal forgiveness. However, many of these studies rely on samples drawn from predominantly Western nations and Westernized religions (e.g., Christianity). In the current research, we analyzed these associations using a large, religiously diverse dataset from the Global Flourishing Study (N = 202,898), which sampled participants from 22 countries and 17 religious groups. We created a latent factor for religiosity from multiple indicators and used multilevel modeling to examine associations with self-reported forgiveness. Results showed that religiosity (i.e., religious belief, bonding, and belonging) was positively associated with self-reported forgiveness. This association varied across countries and religious groups and was stronger in countries with higher (vs. lower) average levels of religiosity. Additionally, experiencing divine love was positively associated with self-reported forgiveness, but only in countries with higher (vs. lower) average levels of religiosity. Conversely, experiencing divine punishment was negatively associated with self-reported forgiveness, which was stronger in countries with lower (vs. higher) average levels of religiosity. These findings provide insight into cross-national and cross-religious variation in the associations between religiosity, divine love, divine punishment, and forgiveness across global religious and cultural contexts.