Apologies, Repentance, and Forgiveness: A Muslim–Christian Comparison

Abstract

Forgivingness (dispositional forgiveness) was assessed in three different samples: Lebanese Muslims (N = 119), Lebanese Christians (N = 121), and French Christians (N = 151). Two different forgivingness structures were evidenced, one that corresponded to the three-factor Western European model (Lasting Resentment, Sensitivity to Circumstances, and Unconditional Forgiveness), which fit the data from the Christian samples, and one that gave a special status to repentance and apologies, which fit the data from the Lebanese Muslim sample. In this alternative model, the meaning of the Sensitivity to Circumstances factor was reduced to circumstances that did not imply the offender's behavior or the victim's mood, and the meaning of the third factor was that the presence of apologizing behavior from the offender was a necessary condition for the resentment to weaken, for the mood to improve, and for a first step toward forgiveness to be taken. The Lebanese Muslims' unconditional forgiveness score was lower than the corresponding Lebanese Christians' and French Christians' scores. This difference was not attributable to possible differential acquiescence effects.