Forgiveness means that you fill yourself with love and you radiate that love outward and refuse to hang onto the venom or hatred that was engendered by the behaviors that caused the wounds.
I do see more and more people who are moving away from traditional religions that exclude others and have hatred as their basis, as part of their ideologies, that conceptualize an angry God that is going to take retribution on all the people who are not a certain way.
The problem with using force in our lives is that we always create a counterforce. For example, If you're with a child and the child says, "I hate you," which is a very low energy, and you respond with, "I hate you too," you have lowered the collective energy that you are both in, and both of you will he weakened. Whereas, if you respond to, "I hate you," with love, which is what, instinctively, we know what to do, then we can dissolve and dissipate that hatred.