Agnostic Animal Rights Activist Finds Purpose in Seminary
I didn’t have a strong affiliation with Christianity,but I developed a positive association with the idea of moral community—the idea that people could come together,support each other,and work towards something good for one another and the world. That felt important.
When did you begin considering religion’s role in your animal-rights activism? I ask because Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), the organization you founded, appears explicitly secular.
Around 2015, I discussed this with Doug McAdam, a sociologist at Stanford specializing in political movements. He found DxE a captivating example of grassroots mobilization and community-building. Though,he pointed out something crucial: “You’re not leveraging a specific identity. Movements lacking identities struggle to sustain themselves long-term.”
People are fundamentally motivated when they believe they fight for something integral to their identity. Purely ideological battles lack the power to create lasting mobilization. He cited the Black church as an example, recommending Aldon Morris’s The Origins of the Civil rights Movement.
I already knew about Martin luther King, Jr., and how the movement faltered in the late sixties due to waning faith and community. Doug introduced me to the sociologist charles Tilly’s acronym, WUNC, representing “worthiness, unity, numbers, and commitment.” These four attributes define a successful movement.
I realized we lacked a sense of worthines