Religiosity and forgiveness

In discussing the relationship between religiosity and forgiveness one commences by determining the concept of the Church, wherefore the declarative and existential levels of activity are discerned. The question of successfulness of Christianisation in Europe is raised. With regard to forgiveness, it has been emphasised that this concept needs to be freed from the ballast of misunderstanding and possible misinterpretations. Forgiveness is treated as a gift which is given to the perpetrator by the victim, and at the same time it is a gift to the victim, who is then freed from the connection to the evil deed committed, thus making forgiveness a precondition for the equilibrium of the victim within him/herself. In the second part of the paper, the authors interpret the empirical data of the research "Peace in Croatia" conducted on a population of citizens of the Republic of Croatia in the period from 5th to 15th December 2003. The sample was constructed as a three-stage probabilistic one, and it included 1023 citizens. The questionnaire had 69 questions, and the face to face interview took an average of 60 to 75 minutes to complete. The role of religion and Church in the process of forgiveness and reconciliation was examined in the research. The results indicate that the citizens of Croatia consider forgiveness to be something the Catholic Church, Catholic bishops and priests, practical believers and younger:people regardless of religious belief are more inclined towards, but forgiveness is still considered as a generally human and not just religious phenomenon.