I agree with all of this as an emacs user, but I wonder whether this sets up emacs to be replaced by something that uses a more popular extension language, like Atom. Won't happen in the next 5 years, but 10 years down the line, being based on JavaScript might look like a great decision.
I love lisp but I don't see much interest in it and have had coworkers tell me it keeps them away from emacs. Which is a bit sad...
I think emacs lisp is a great extension language. There's not much syntax, and it has the important functionality baked in. IMO anyone that says they don't use Emacs because they don't like Lisp is someone that would not use Emacs no matter what.
I love lisp but I don't see much interest in it and have had coworkers tell me it keeps them away from emacs. Which is a bit sad...