> I don't think that anyone is preventing violence by branding someone a heretic, quite the opposite in fact.

This is very interesting and I believe I tend to agree.

When a person is branded as a "heretic" for their ideas, doesn't it increase the division between those two groups? The winning group (the one doing the branding) begins to dehumanize and rage towards the losing group. The losing group has to find other ways to fight back or remain in insolent silence.