Response to "Understanding Animal Rights Activism As Functional Religion"

Wesley V. Jamison, Caspar Wenk, and James V. Parker compare animal rights activism to a cult-like religion in their essay "Every Sparrow That Falls: Understanding Animal Rights Activism As Functional Religion". I found their assessment of the animal rights community ridiculous and insulting. They point out that animal activism often requires "extraordinary levels of personal commitment and conviction", alienates people from their families and friends, encourages people to drastically change their lifestyles, and places more importance on animals than humans. The authors' critique of animal activism reminds me of the arguments I am often met with for being a feminist. For me, feminism is a huge commitment, a lifestyle, and something that does sometimes alienate me from other people. People often accuse me of caring more about women than men. These arguments clearly come from the same place that Jamison and his coauthors are coming from. The authors of this essay seem afraid of confronting the actual issue of animal ethics. If they paint animal rights activists as these crazy cult followers, we will just laugh them off and not take their view into consideration. Most of what the authors point out about animal activists is true: they do commit a big portion of their life to what they are passionate in, it does sometimes alienate them from their communities, and it often does lead to a lifestyle change. But what is so bad about all of this? Being deeply committed to a cause is admirable. As long as you aren't using violence or fear to spread your message, being passionate is a good thing. It seems to me like the authors feel threatened by the animal rights movement, so they are dismissing animal activists as silly and pointless so they don't have to listen. It is similar to when people say feminists are all "angry man-haters"; they are quickly dismissing a group of people so they don't have to hear their arguments.

Question: Did anybody agree with this essay? Why?