As We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us : The Effect of Religiosity on Forgiveness

Forgiveness is a key element of the monotheistic religions of the world, particularly Christianity. After reading a scenario describing an act of religious vandalism on either a church or a mosque by a transgressor with either internal or external motivations, participants, scored as either high or low on a religiosity scale, with intrinsic religious motivation as a qualification for high religiosity, indicated their level of forgiveness for the transgressor. Results showed that participants who were high on the religiosity scale were more forgiving of the transgressor than those ranking low on the scale. An interaction of motivation and religiosity on disgust highlights in-group/out-group biases and stereotypes. We also discovered a prevalence of negative stereotypes toward the Islamic community