Some of the strongest examples of such hatred are church relations. Because of dogmatic fixation, the minutest divergence here at once comes to have logical irreconcilability—if there is deviation at all, it is conceptually irrelevant whether it be large or small. A case in point are the confessional controversies between Lutherans and Reformed, especially in the seventeenth century. Hardly had the great separation from Catholicism occurred, when the whole, over the most trivial matters, split into parties which frequently said about one another that one could more easily make peace with the Popists than with the members of the other Protestant groups.

XREF: Connects to broader discussions of dogmatism, religious schism, and the 'narcissism of small differences' in group conflict psychology.

Georg Simmel, on individuality and social…, loc. 311