The preaching of the gospel has no effect. Nevertheless there are divisions among the people. There were some who did believe, and it appears that it would be along these lines that the social contentions arose. These have been the lines of division in all of Nephite history to this point, and there is no reason to suppose that the pressures for change were any different. In this case, however, there has been a shift in the percentage of believers and non-believers, with the non-believers in the majority and therefore able to enforce their views. The contentions between these factions heats up to the point where their in some form of civil war.