They certainly can make a community more dynamic. But turning division into strength may be one of the oldest and hardest problems in human history—repeated throughout the histories of religions, ideologies, and nations.
Difference keeps a community alive and capable of change, while forced assimilation leads to stagnation. Yet trying to contain every divergence within a single community can also mean resisting the natural course of branching.
And once branches separate, it is just as difficult to keep difference from hardening into opposition.