“To err is human, to forgive, divine”: religious doubt, psychological well-being and the moderating role of divine forgiveness

ABSTRACTA significant amount of research to date has been done to study the effects of forgiveness on mental health and well-being, but less research has been conducted on divine forgiveness. The main purpose of the current study is to examine the possible moderating role of divine forgiveness. Drawing on a nationally representative sample of 1,500 older adults, regression results suggest that greater divine forgiveness exacerbated the relationship between high religious doubt and greater depressive symptoms and lower life satisfaction. We did not document similar moderation patterns between religious doubt and forgiveness of others and self-forgiveness. Understanding the impact of divine forgiveness for those experiencing uncertainty in their faith is crucial to gaining a more complete picture of religion’s “dark side, and we hope future research continues to pursue these objectives.KEYWORDS: Depressiondivine forgivenesslife satisfactionreligious doubt Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Data availability statementThe data that were used in this study are available from the first-listed author upon request.Compliance with Ethical Statement consisting Ethical Approval StatementAll procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.Informed consentAll study participants were required to sign an informed consent statement.Additional informationFundingThis research was support by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation and the United States Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging (Grant RO1 AG009221).