Do you think people think of veganism as more of a belief/religion rather than a diet?

I think it depends bc in the West it’s about ethical concerns/health fads and in the East it’s mostly religion, personally I grew up mainly vegetarian/vegan due to my mothers religious beliefs and even a lot of fear mongering in the culture about other diets but now that I live elsewhere I got adjusted to a meat based diet, which is why I associate veganism as a health fad as my health is much better and even my body is more toned with meat in my diet as opposed to all the fear mongering I grew up with, so while I appreciate vegans for taking the extra step for whatever reasons I don’t think they’re special anymore