The whole fundamentalist concept that there is only one truth, only one correct way of being, only one path to enlightenment never worked for me.
As for animism, why not? If all things are created by a higher spirit, they should have just a touch of that spirit within them. The tree in my front yard, for instance, that is determined--no matter what we do to it--to grow its limbs so that they over-hang our porch. Who's to say it doesn't have a spirit or a will to enable it to do so? It's not talking, so I can't interview it and find out. 8o)