The Campaign for Forgiveness Research has been established as a nonprofit corporation to attract donations to support scientific research on forgiveness. Begun in 1997, the campaign has received an initial commitment of $5 million from the John Templeton Foundation, the Fetzer Institute, and an anonymous donor, for full or partial funding of 29 research projects.

Cochairs of the campaign include psychiatrist Robert Coles, M.D., former President Jimmy Carter, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa.

Everett Worthington, Ph.D., a pioneer in the field of forgiveness research and executive director for the campaign, said that the scope of research in the area is wide. Issues to be studied include how forgiveness could affect physical and mental health, the actions of people with HIV, conflicts in family relationships, racial tension, qualities of the human spirit that could promote forgiveness in the face of grief and loss, and the differences in perceptions of behavior between victims and perpetrators.

"Scientists will examine hypotheses concerning what treatment helps alcoholics forgive themselves and others, what parts of the brain are activated during forgiveness, and how forgiveness could affect victims of childhood sexual and physical abuse," Worthington said.

Some examples of research being funded by the campaign include the following:

•  "Biological Effects of Forgiveness: Baseline and Stress Response Correlates": Joseph Neumann, Ph.D., in the psychology service/internal medicine department at the James H. Quillen VA Medical Center in Tennessee, is examining whether forgiveness causes better psychological and biological health. He is analyzing the relationship of forgiveness to standardized assessments of anger, depression, anxiety, stress coping, physical health, and social and family health.

•  "Psychosocial Effects of Forgiveness Training With Adults": Carl Thoresen, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Stanford University, is studying methods of helping people forgive to reduce hostility and anger toward their offenders. This project uses assessments, interviews, and group sessions.

•  "The Role of Forgiveness in Positive Adjustment to Disability": Carol Gill, Ph.D., at the CAHP-IDHD Chicago Center for Disability Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago, will explore and describe the role of forgiveness in terms of making it easier for someone who has become physically disabled to have a positive adjustment.

•  "The Development of Forgiveness in Young Children: A Prospective Longitudinal Study": Adrian Teo, Ph.D., in the psychology department at Whitworth College, proposes to use a longitudinal study of three groups of children to understand age-related forgiveness.

•  "Forgiveness at the End of Life": Porter Storey, M.D., a professor of medicine at the Hospice at the Texas Medical Center, is testing an intervention study on the effectiveness of forgiveness among terminally ill cancer patients.