Forgiveness News

Dr. Enright’s essay on the beauty of forgiveness was placed on the front page of the Psychology Today website on June 9, 2026. A link to the post is here:

The journal article below examined 30 manuscripts comprising 35 individual studies, published between 2000 and 2024, focused on forgiveness during times of armed conflict.  The results were not surprising.  In the article’s abstract, the authors concluded: “Facilitating factors [for forgiveness] included acknowledgment of harm, apologies, justice measures, religious and cultural beliefs, and guarantees of non-repetition. Conversely, lack of trust, empathy, and the severity of offenses reduced willingness to forgive.”

In other words, forgiveness seemed to follow the reduction or elimination of the conflict as justice (not forgiveness) was beginning to prevail. As the quotation above makes clear, if trust and empathy are not present and there is severity in the offenses, then a willingness to forgive is less likely.

Turizo-Palencia, Y., Avila Paternina, K. A., De La Hoz Maldonado, A., & Núñez Menco, S. S. (2026). Willingness to forgive in contexts of armed conflict: A systematic review. Acta psychologica, 266, 106764. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2026.106764

A critical issue that did not emerge in the article is this: How can forgiveness start before the quelling of the conflict, before the guarantee of non-repetition, before trust is restored?  Forgiveness should not be considered only as a consequence of justice received, but instead as a possible catalyst for changing the situation from unjust to more just or even completely just.

Olympian Sturla Holm Lægreid, who won a bronze medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics, shared his challenge of seeking forgiveness from his girlfriend after he had an affair during the competition. His girlfriend shared her struggle to offer forgiveness. The story can be found on people.com here:

https://people.com/sturla-holm-laegreid-ex-girlfriend-breaks-her-silence-after-affair-confession-2026-winter-olympics-11904252?utm_source=chatgpt.com

So often people exhort others not to force others to forgive.  The current advice so often seen in print is this: Forgiveness is the choice of the forgiver, not the demand of the one who acted unjustly.  Yet an article published in Acta Analytica on February 10, 2026, by Sam Ridge, entitled “The Right to Forgiveness,” challenges the current norms.  He makes the interesting claim that if a person promises to forgive, then this becomes an expectation.  As an analogy, if Harold promises to mow a neighbor’s lawn by Saturday and then does not follow through, there remains an expectation that the lawn will be mowed by Harold.  It is similar with forgiveness.  For example, if a father asks his daughter, “Why were you out so late last night?  It is ok to tell me.  If I do not like your answer, I will forgive you.”  The promise creates the expectation that it will be kept.  The challenge, then, is this: Forgiveness is not solely in the hands of the forgiver; it can become an obligation to the other person if a promise is attached to the forgiving.

The article can be read here: