What we seek to accomplish

1
Fund high-caliber scientific research on forgiveness.
2
Build partnerships and coalitions to increase the visibility and funding of forgiveness innovations.
3
Ignite a global conversation on forgiveness to help everyone experience its benefits.

Forgiveness Science and Innovation

Forgiveness is an age-old practice, and its benefits are more than anecdotal. When people forgive, positive emotions—empathy, love, compassion—replace negative ones, transforming people’s lives. Over the past twenty years, scientific research on forgiveness has given us simple interventions that improve physical health, mental wellbeing, and personal relationships. 

Templeton World Charity Foundation, along with the John Templeton Foundation, has funded the study of forgiveness for more than a decade. As the field advances, a growing body of evidence supports the healing power of forgiveness. Fifty studies have found that forgiveness significantly improves mental health outcomes such as depression, anger, hostility, and stress. Reports also show decreased blood pressure, heart rate, and cortisol. These studies looked at a range of contexts: individual and group settings, different types and lengths of treatment, and countries as diverse as the United States, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Malaysia, and Switzerland.

Using rigorous science, we aim to build an ecosystem of data-driven innovations and tools that make forgiveness accessible to anyone. Learn more about the science of forgiveness.

Visit DiscoverForgiveness.org, the first-ever digital space housing key research into the science of forgiveness. Discover Forgiveness is a joint initiative of the Templeton World Charity Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation and is supported by a Forgiveness Scientific Advisory Council. Its goal is to share how the science of forgiveness is interwoven across cultures and contexts, geographies, and traditions.

REACHing for Forgiveness

The science of forgiveness has provided exciting insight into how we forgive and the impact it has on us.The REACH model, recently the subject of a global randomized controlled trial conducted in six languages in sites across the world — the largest ever forgiveness study of its kind. It found that those who followed the workbook showed significant reductions in unforgiveness, depression symptoms, and anxiety symptoms, compared to a group who was delayed in receipt of the workbook.

Learn more about the largest forgiveness study ever held in this video.

Forgiveness Callout

Forgiveness is central to our commitment to fund innovations for human flourishing.

President Andrew Serazin on Forgiveness

"After 20 years of fantastic research led by a group of world-class experts, the science is clear: forgiveness works.” Andrew Serazin talks about the importance of forgiveness to human flourishing.

Featured Projects

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Building More Forgiving Communities around the Globe through Engagement to Complete Do-It-Yourself REACH Forgiveness Workbooks​​

The benefits of forgiveness on physical, mental, relational, and spiritual health are well established. However, the majority of research on...
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Can Forgiveness Be Strengthened in West and South Africa?

In West Africa and South Africa, the capacity of researchers in universities to conduct publishable research on forgiveness is underdeveloped. The...

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