Are there any other religions or philosophies besides Christianity that encourage their followers to forgive others who have harmed them ?
Buddhism. Thoughts of revenge and mulling over one’s anger are classic examples of the kinds of attachments that create karma. Compassion and forgiveness are key concepts.
Judaism, to a point. It is considered meritorious to forgive a wrong against you even if the person who did it doesn’t ask. There’s a teaching in the Talmud to the effect of “If you are forgiving and tolerant towards other people, measure-for-measure God will be forgiving and tolerant towards you”. However, if they don’t ask for forgivness you are not strictly required to grant it.
If the perpetrator asks you for forgivness, and you can’t bring yourself to do so, then you can refuse them up to three times. By the third occasion, you are supposed to get over yourself and drop your grudge.
Presumably this doesn’t apply to serious crimes like rape or abuse. The strict letter of Jewish law says you don’t have to forgive someone who slanders you, either.
Source: mostly Rabbi Joseph Telushkin’s You Shall Be Holy, which I’ve been reading lately.
Jainism seems to do as well.
So does Islam, which says, “The reward of the evil is the evil thereof, but whosoever forgives and makes amends, his reward is upon God.”
Hinduism too. It’s quite a common theme.
Regarding Judaism,
I don’t recall ever hearing of those exceptions. But I’ve heard of others, and they are very similar to what you wrote about not being required to forgive if the offender has not asked for forgiveness, in the sense that even if the offender asks for forgiveness, his apology is presumed to be insincere. For example,
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[li]The victim doesn’t have to forgive if the offender committed the act on the presumption that the victim would forgive him.[/li][li]The victim doesn’t have to forgive if the offender owes money (or something else) and has not returned it.[/li][/ul]There are probably others too, and they follow the same idea of insincerity. (It’s a good bet that in many/most cases of rape, abuse, slander,. and the like, at least one of the above will apply.)
But again, as Malleus, Incus, Stapes wrote, if I forgive people who really don’t deserve my forgiveness, I hope that God will treat me the same way. I know how often I’ve messed up, and this sort of logic really does help me with my sincerity, both when people have offended me, and when I’m apologizing to God.
What about Bahai? I assume it does, anyway.