Learning Hub

On Food and Faith: Ministry in the Time of Climate Change

June 4, 2019

by Sarah Withrow King Three years ago, almost to the day, I shared the following exchange with my son, who was then not-quite-eight years old. Son: “Mommy? Can I tell you one thing I’m worried about? If people keep littering [begins to cry] the planet will get too hot and we

Lenten Reflection: Transforming Scarcity into Excess

March 27, 2019

by Lucas Patterson During the Lenten season of reflection, it’s appropriate to meditate on the “other” – quiet partners deeply woven into the fabric of our daily existence and sustenance. There are immense spiritual and practical applications to be considered, and giving up meat for Lent is a uniquely tangible way

CreatureKind Presents at Eco-Minded Theological Symposium

March 20, 2019

“To live, we must daily break the body and shed the blood of Creation. When we do this knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently, it is a sacrament. When we do it ignorantly, greedily, clumsily, destructively, it is a desecration. In such desecration we condemn ourselves to spiritual and moral loneliness, and others

Lecture Explores Theological Relationship Between Human and Non-Human Animals

March 13, 2019

Calvin College recently hosted its 11th Animals and the Kingdom of God lecture series. The ongoing event includes lectures, panel discussions, and a potluck dinner shared by both speakers and attendees. Christopher Carter, PhD, presented this year’s keynote: “Being Human Takes Practice: Toward a Liberative Theological Anthropology.” In his talk, Carter

Green Seminary Initiative and CreatureKind Announce Partnership

March 5, 2019

GSI director, abby mohaupt, and CreatureKind co-directors, Sarah Withrow King and David Clough, on the campus of Santa Clara University in San Jose, CA. While environmental advocacy and animal advocacy groups have often been at odds with one another, Green Seminary Initiative and CreatureKind believe that a holistic, effective approach to

Reflections from the On Animals North American Book Tour

March 1, 2019

by David Clough The On Animals North American book tour is complete! In numbers: 31 days, lectures and seminars at 21 venues, combined audience of over 1000, 9 institutional food policy meetings, well over 100 books distributed. I’m most grateful to hosts for the warm welcome received at each stop: Yale

Apply Now: CreatureKind Climate Leadership Fellow

February 18, 2019

Image from Young Evangelicals for Climate Action We’ve spent a lot of time on college campuses recently and met so many compassionate, intelligent students with a heart for affecting positive change on a global scale. One of our primary takeaways from these weeks spent on the road is this: we are

Should Christians Be Vegan?

January 28, 2019

by David Clough Why might Christians consider going vegan? There are four reasons that overlap with the reasons anyone else might give: concern for the environment, concern for animals, concern for human welfare, and the desire to adopt a more healthy diet. In addition, Christians might be inspired by long religious

Three Must-Watch Videos on Farms and Farming

January 15, 2019

by Sarah Withrow King Wondering what to do this weekend? Need resources to help raise discussion in your church or school on why Christian attention to food and farming is so urgent? Check out these three must-watch videos on farms and farming. 73 Cows Alex Lockwood | 73 Cows At about

Reflections from the Road

January 9, 2019

by Sarah Withrow King CreatureKind spent the latter part of December and the first week of January on the road, exhibiting and talking to attendees of Intervarsity’s Urbana Missions Conference and the Society of Christian Ethics annual meeting (held in conjunction with the Society of Jewish Ethics and the Society for

Not All Certifications are Created Equal

December 21, 2018

Editor’s note: this article was originally posted by Farm Forward and is reprinted here with permission. Today third-party certifications are the most reliable way for consumers to know where their food comes from and how it was treated. Animal welfare certifications empower consumers who eat meat with trusted information so that

Instruments of Peace for All Creatures

December 3, 2018

by Tim Mascara Pixabay.com On December 4, 1959, Soviet artist Evgeny Vuchetich presented a bronze statue to the United Nations, titled Let Us Beat Our Swords into Plowshares. The sculpture is an image of a man beating a sword into a plowshare, meant to symbolize humankind’s desire to end war—the desire to

7 Steps University Food Services Can Take to Help Humans, Animals, and the Environment

November 29, 2018

If you’re a part of a college, university, or other organization that works with a food service provider, here are seven things you can ask the dining or catering staff to do that will each help reduce consumption of animal products (which has positive impacts for human health, for animals, for

October Highlights from CreatureKind

November 6, 2018

The CreatureKind team was out and about in October! Our project editor, Margaret, spoke about CreatureKind’s theological foundations and approach to food policy at the Humane Society International’s “Forward Food Week” at Oxford Brookes University, Headington. David addressed the Church of England’s Annual Gathering of Readers in the Diocese of Chester

Rev. Don Ng: “Vegetarianism by Faith”

November 5, 2018

Growing up in a Chinese-American home, there was always some kind of meat dish. Even if there wasn’t enough money to buy a prime cut of beef, there was always lop-cheung, sausages that came tied in bunches with the string used to dry them in the butcher shop. After a pot

Who is my Neighbour? A St. Francis of Assisi Feast Day Meditation

October 17, 2018

by Michael Gilmour Photo: Michael Gilmour The punchline of Luke’s Good Samaritan story comes at the beginning rather than the end, and it is not Jesus who delivers it but instead a nameless onlooker. He cites Torah: love God and love your neighbour as yourself (Luke 10:27; cf. Lev 19:18; Deut

CreatureKind Founder David Clough Awarded Nearly Half a Million Pounds for Research Grant

September 3, 2018

David Clough has been awarded a £450,000 research grant by the Arts and Humanities Research Council for a three-year project on the Christian Ethics of Farmed Animal Welfare in partnership with major UK churches and a number of other organizations (listed below). Work on the project will begin in October 2018.

Good Love

August 20, 2018

Sermon delivered by Michael Anthony Howard at Brookside Community Church, April 22, 2018. Reprinted here with permission. The Resurrection illustrates what good love looks like. When love is good, it has the power to transform us and offer new life to the world! The Raging Rambo Whether it was natural born

Undoing Domination, a Sermon

July 23, 2018

Sermon written and delivered by Michael Anthony Howard at Stanley Congregational Church, Chatham, NJ on July 15, 2018. Reprinted with permission. Listen to the sermon audio, download sermon notes, and access the sermon worksheet here. IMAGE CREDIT: Die gelbe Kuh (The Yellow Cow), by Franz Marc (1911) [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Franz_Marc-The_Yellow_Cow-1911.jpg] The Logic of

Finding Our Place in the World, a Sermon

May 9, 2018

Sermon delivered at Drew Theological School Chapel by David Clough, April 2018 “May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD.” What emotions do you bring to worship this evening? Delight at glimpses of beauty and of love? Sadness at tragic loss? Anger at injustice? Resentment and

Introducing Vegetarian/Vegan Meals into the Week’s Menu

April 27, 2018

2.5, Infinitely-Variable, Large-Bowl Meals by Margaret B. Adam Well over 25 years ago, my family made the transition from an omnivorous diet to a vegetarian diet. It took about 4 years of effort on my part, because I wanted them not only to become vegetarians, but to want to become vegetarians.

New Animal Welfare Standards for Organic Meat and Dairy Products Are Withdrawn. Now What?

April 5, 2018

by Lois Godfrey Wye On January 19, 2017, the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a final rule imposing new requirements on suppliers of organic meats and dairy products. The new rule set certain standards for animal care, to “create[] greater consistency in organic livestock and poultry practice standards” and “to

Objections to a Christian Food Ethic Treating the Consumption of Animals

March 6, 2018

The following is an excerpt of a paper (“Consuming Animal Creatures: The Christian Ethics of Eating Animals”) written and given by David Clough at the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics annual meeting and published in the journal Studies in Christian Ethics. Read the full article. by David Clough David

Throwing Rocks at Giants

February 14, 2018

by Michael Gilmour My daily commute takes me south of Winnipeg into an area with several intensive hog operations. Manitoba produces somewhere around 8 million pigs a year, more than any other Canadian province, and each day, whether minus 30 C (-22 F) or plus 30 C (86 F), I pass

Friends House in London Signs Up to CreatureKind

January 31, 2018

We were delighted to be at Friends House in London, the centre for Quakers in Britain, to celebrate their signing up to be a CreatureKind institution. Friends House have been leaders in the ethical sourcing of food products, and were the first religious organization to be awarded Compassion in World Farming’s

Ferdinand and the Practice of Nonviolence

January 18, 2018

by Elrena Evans I first learned about nonviolence from a bull. My childhood copy of Ferdinand was beautiful—the red cover, the flowers, even the lettering. I remember very clearly the way the light and dark shading of the font played together in perfect harmony in the title on the cover. What

Living with God’s Other Creatures

January 10, 2018

Adapted from a sermon delivered by David Clough at First Congregational United Church of Christ in Portland, Oregon on January 7, 2018. Scripture Romans 8:18-24: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creations waits in eager expectation

Love This, a poem by Gretchen Primack

January 1, 2018

Dairy cows who have had their babies removed from them so that we can drink their milk, watch the new mother bond with her calf. Photo: Jo-Anne McArthur | We Animals Love This If you permitthis evil, what is the goodof the good of your life?—Stanley Kunitz The body floods with

Dwelling in the Wild Places, Welcoming the Light

December 25, 2017

Advent Meditations on Multispecies and Interspiritual Encounter by Ed Sloane For the last several months—since June—along with my friend and colleague, Michael, I have been involved in a spiritual adventure. Oddly, this adventure doesn’t require going anywhere. It is an adventure in the arts of dwelling. Out of a desire to

Gopala, Jesus, and the Friendly Beasts

December 22, 2017

Interspiritual Friendships and the Care of Animals by Michael J. Iafrate A few months ago, I sat in a crowded movie theatre watching the local premiere of the documentary Hare Krishna! The Mantra, the Movement and the Swami Who Started It All. The majority of the audience was made up of

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