Episode Details

CreatureKind’s Aline Silva joins the podcast this week for a discussion about food, animals and Christianity. Reverend Silva, who serves as CreatureKind’s Co-Director, gives us an overview of the religious nonprofit, which encourages Christians to recognize faith-based reasons for caring about the well-being of all living creatures and helps them implement plant-based practices within their church communities. Founded on the belief that all animals are God’s creations and humans’ love and care must extend to all of His creations, and not just fellow humans, CreatureKind has developed a six-week course for churches that focuses on self-reflection to help individuals see how they contribute to factory farming and the oppression of animals, and how they can take steps to change.

Reverend Aline Silva serves as the Co-Director of CreatureKind. Before coming to CreatureKind, she was a local parish pastor of rural and farming populations in Kansas, Missouri, and Colorado for more than 10 years. Aline shares herself as a queer, Black & Indigenous immigrant of Brazil to the US. She chooses not to eat non-human animals, her fellow worshippers of God. Aline is a pastor, a preacher, and a life coach who writes today from the un-ceded lands of the Tequesta, Taino, and Seminole peoples, namely South Florida, USA.

“CreatureKind is a part of creating an overarching community of Christians who hold a deep concern for what animals are going through today.” – Aline Silva

Highlights for Episode 631:

• Why churches and religious organizations are motivated to get in touch with CreatureKind
• How Aline and her team help groups and individuals fulfill a commitment to consume plant-based foods rather than animals
• Their philosophy on consuming animals for food and why it is rooted in the question of whether God cares for the welfare of animals
• How a plant-based diet does not rely on the oppression of fellow worshipers of God and how we don’t need to rely on eating animals to obtain nutrients
• What CreatureKind is doing to help people who want to become more active for animals and understand how large scale factory farming also damages humans
• Whether preachers are nervous about approaching their congregations to promote a plant-based lifestyle and how CreatureKind advises them
• What the CreatureKind Food Friendly Challenge is and how their toolkit helps members of a church community choose plant-based meals by starting conversations about Christianity and farmed animals
• Aline’s thoughts on why so many faith-based organizations have left consideration for animals off the agenda

Resources Mentioned:

• Meet the People Getting Paid to Kill Our Planet
• When Being Vegan Just Isn’t Enough: How and Why I’m Making My House Net-Zero
• Episode 494: David Clough on Theology and Ethics

Connect with Aline Silva:

• CreatureKind Website
• CreatureKind on Facebook
• CreatureKind on Instagram
• CreatureKind on Twitter