Booklet published about Faith and Science: Can I, a Scientific Student, Believe?

A few years ago I gave a lecture at Amsterdam University College about faith and science, at the request of a student. The response was good then, and I still like the project, so I decided to publish this lecture as a booklet, in electronic format. This booklet is available for free and written in English. You can find more information below.

Can I, a Scientific Student, Believe?

A science student’s intellectual battle to unite himself to his religious parents. 

When his Jewish family invites Nicodemus to move with them to Jerusalem, he asks a religious scientist how faith and science can combine; but when fast answers are in short supply, he must both learn that faith requires serious study and that there is more to faith than knowledge alone, or his family’s convictions will remain beyond his reach forever.

The booklet can be downloaded without charge from this page.

4 Paradoxes About Our Personal Desires that will Make You Wonder

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be completely free? What it would be like to get to know the things you love as deeply as possible? What it would be like to always be together with the person you love most? And have you ever wondered why it is, that we have a great desire to be in these situations, but that these desires seem never to be fully fulfilled?

In this talk, given in a TED-like style, I take you on an exploratory tour of four paradoxes we find within us, related to our deepest desires. I explain why the natural sciences will never be able to explain these paradoxes, and under what conditions they could be explained. Finally, I draw some fundamental conclusions about the science and faith discussion.

These thoughts were inspired on prof. Sellés description in “Antropología para Inconformes” of the personal transcendentals that Leonardo Polo discovered. Enjoy!

About happy families and happy children

The family is an important theme this year. In the Netherlands, the social systems supporting them have changed quite drastically recently. I have written an article on Mercatornet about that, that you can find here:

http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/view/welfare-reform-needs-strong-families

In the article, I also mention some positive initiatives, like the Parents2B app that my sister has launched. I think that her initiative is really important, and here's why.

How to raise a happy child from Daan van Schalkwijk