Interesting research on the idea that feeling forgiven by God (authors focused on Judeo-Christians) can make you less likely to apologise to others. Giving people a sense of inner resolution makes them less likely to resolve conflicts, I guess, on the Earthly realm, but it can also boost gratitude and humility, which could produce heartfelt expressions when apologizing to others.
It's just one study, but fascinating to me as a non-Christian. The cynical side of me can't help but think this may explain a reason why some American Christians act with such ease when being... fucking pricks and non-Christian like. Maybe I'm still giving some people too much credit that they even feel guilty and ask God for forgiveness.
High level, the study found two causal or psychological processes... Self-Focused Pathway (hinders apology) and Other-Focused Pathway (facilitates apology).
The self-focused pathway dominated the sample.
The other-focused pathway, weaker and conditional, depended on factors like religiosity and belief in God.
Divine forgiveness reliably increased self-forgiveness, reducing the perceived need to apologize.
Gratitude and humility, activated in more religious individuals, counteracted this effect, leading to more apologies.
Consequently, divine forgiveness had no direct effect on apology behavior due to the opposing pathways canceling each other out.
Attached is the article for those interested.
ludwig-et-al-2025-implications-of-divine-forgiveness-for-conciliatory-behavior-understanding-how-feeling-forgiven-by.pdf