Raising Cain: “Why do so many religious people feel they have to attack their brothers in the faith?”

Fr. Dwight Longenecker looks at the phenomenon:

One of the most discouraging things about religious life is to witness brothers fighting one another.

Why do so many religious people feel they have to attack their brothers in the faith?

Because there’s something sick going on within a lot of religious people and religious groups. I call it the Cain Syndrome.

Remember when Cain killed his brother Abel? Remember why?

Because God told them to make an animal sacrifice. Abel obeyed. Cain made an offering from the produce he had grown.

When his offering was rejected he rose up in anger and killed his brother. Why was that? Because Abel had made one kind of sacrifice and Cain made a different one. They disagreed about religion, and Cain had to kill his brother to rid the world of what he perceived to be evil.

I’ve observed this in so many institutions, parishes, religious orders, school, dioceses, apostolates that I know how poisonous it is and how pervasive. Not only is it poisonous, but it is a demonic dynamic. It is the most subtle lie and it destroys true religion.

Amen. Read it all.