I was born into a Christian fundamentalist, young-earth Creationist, die-hard Republican home. I grew up in a church where people spoke in tongues, had “faith healings”, made “prophecies”, and people were “slain in the spirit”. (Like this and this.) I went to a Christian school and Christian college. But, I am none of those things. I started having creeping doubts in high-school, and by the end of college (a Christian college), I was a closet atheist. I am a single 30-something evolutionist, agnostic/atheist, and moderate-democrat. (And, no, I don’t go out of my way to antagonize or advertise my beliefs to my family. In fact, I tend to avoid those discussions, because, well, what’s the point?)
The title image is copyright nellring (http://www.flickr.com/photos/80415664@N00/), and is available under an attribution license.
A namsake whoe thinks the way I do. When you consider how unusual our last name is,what are the odds? I was raised in the Catholic cult and reached the same conclusions you have.
Hi Matt. Thanks for the feedback. I’m not sure what you mean by “When you consider how unusual our last name is,what are the odds?” My last name isn’t Schorr or anything similar to it. Perhaps someone named “Schorr” linked to my blog, and you thought it was his blog?
Nice to have stumbled upon your blog – glad to know another anti-creationism and atheist around. I am looking forward to read your posts on a regular basis because you properly know the fundamentalists and/or creationists mindset initimately, given that you grew up in such an environment… it is always nice to hear the stories and opinions of people like you.
frog,
this is really a good, well written blog. Please keep it up!
I’m really enjoying your blog.
Please drop me an email if you would.
Great blog. I”m adding you to my favorites. But I am curious about your educational/occupational background.
Aaron
Hi Aaron. My educational background is computer science and pre-med. I currently write software.
hi tinyfrog,
just read some of your book reviews, great stuff !
Keept it up,
cheers
Sed
-t, sorry 😉
Here via a recommendation through Google Reader.
I’m definitely subscribing; you’ve got some AWESOME stuff here!
Cool frog…I like it.
I read your blog fairly regularly and I’m also involved in an atheist lending team on Kiva. I’m not sure if you know what Kiva is. If you don’t, I think you should. Anyway I thought you might be interested so check out the link.
http://www.kiva.org/
I figure the more I can promote such a good cause the better and what better place for an atheist like me to promote it than here.
> Re: http://www.kiva.org
Huh. That’s pretty cool.
tinyfrog,
I live in Denver and have a similar background to yours. I’m now finishing my PhD in computational neuroscience at the Health Sciences Center. Send an email if you’d like to hook up or talk more.
Tom
Re: Tom
Very cool. Maybe I’ll get ahold of you later.
I just found your website after searching for reviews about the film “The Case For Faith” and I have to thank you. Well thought out and articulate. I’ll bookmark this blog and visit often!
Thanks, debg.
OMG! I LOVE your writing! I stumbled across a link via a random comment on Hemant’s Friendly Atheist site and I’ve just been reading page after page of your review of Lee Strobel’s TCFF. My favorite is your review of chapter 5!
Our backgrounds are freakishly similiar! I grew up Assemblies of God, fundamentalist Christian family and K-12 Christian school. I attended an Assemblies of God college for 3 semesters and that was the beginning of my journey away from Christianity. I’m sorry to hear you endured a whole 4 years of christian college. That couldn’t have been much fun.
I loved your commentary about how “demanding” xianity is. The A/G was pretty hard on me mentally, but I’d say Islam is pretty demanding too. MUCH more so than any mainline Christian church could imagine being. Most Christians wouldn’t know what to do with themselves if they had to fast during the day for a month straight! Or pray five times a day in Arabic facing a certain direction after washing rituals.
I am now a huge fan! Your work deserves a wider audience!
I’m atheist, btw. My post makes me look like a Muslim. Sorry. 🙂
Thanks, Amy! Glad to hear you like it. Did I mention previously that I grew up in an Assemblies of God? If not, well, now you know. (And sorry for the late response.)
Hi tinyfrog.
I want to ask you something by email.
Can you publish your email? Or send me a blank one.
Sam
It’s not something you want to post?
Hello,
May I use your piece on the Muslim Demographics? Full credit will be given to you of course as well as linking to your article/site.
Thank you,
Amir
Sure. You can use any information on this website. All I ask is attribution.
Dear tinyfrog,
I appreciate this wonderful gesture. Consider it done.
You did a marvelous job on this piece.
Great work and keep up the good job.
tinyfrog, I would like to know how you created the timeline for the 5 September 2007 Creationism versus Archaeology post?
godanov
Which part? The Biblical history timeline, or the archeology timeline?
The archeology information comes from a variety of sources. Some of the links are posted there (http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/dynasties.htm). Those timelines were originally constructed through written histories of Egypt. This was done by archeologists in the early 20th century. These numbers were then rechecked by carbon dating after it was discovered in the late 1940s.
Here’s an example of matching up historical and radiocarbon (which helps us verify that carbon dating is accurate):
“[The creator of carbon dating, Willard Libby] first demonstrated the accuracy of radiocarbon dating by accurately measuring the age of wood from an ancient Egyptian royal barge whose age was known from historical documents.”
The Biblical information comes from the Bible. I can track down the individual verses that talk about who fathered who all the way down to the Jews entering Egypt. A number of young earth creationists have done the same thing and come up with similar dates.
Could you send me an email?
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Tiny Frog, First let me say thank you for your blog. I too am doing a lot of soul searching when it comes to religion, specifically any organized religion. I appreciate your honesty, especially when it goes against your family. I know how difficult that can be. Also wanted to say that I found your blog with minimal searching so as far as internetseop3, needless to say, I would not bother with. Keep up the great work; keep an open mind (something the religious apologists seem to lack), and keep searching for the truth…
Hello,
I was wondering if you accept guest post for your blog. If you do, I would like to submit a few. I’m a recent college graduate, with an English major, looking to build out my portfolio. I can write on a wide variety of topics and am sure you would be happy with the quality. Please email me back if you are interested. Thank you for your time.
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I found this site by accident looking for a comparitive timeline depicting the Bibles account of history as compared to the Sumerians. I will be “crawling” this site for a while. Love the posts. I am an Atheist turned Christian turned Agnostic turned, well I’m not sure yet but it’s obvious to me that the Bible doesn’t tell the whole story or at times convey accurate information…
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Cheers! Where are your contact details though?
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Please no judgement, I really can’t stand faith based arguments between believers/non-believers, no one ever wins and it’s a waste of time. I’m just genuinely seeking honest answers and/or opinions. I’m a believer of Christ and found this blog to be very intriguing since I’m currently reading TCFF. My question for TinyFrog and or any Atheists/Converts. But if I may, I’d like to share about myself first. I came to my faith when I was 16 , and I’d like to say that my relationship with God has been genuine due to my personal experiences and encounters (which many would say that I’m hallucinative and/or using religion as a means of coping psychologically). In an odd turn of events, I was first approached by a complete stranger in my school who I’d noticed would always stare at me (CREEPY). One day he finally approached me embarrassed and scared because he wasn’t entirely sure if he was doing the right thing. He told me that he’d received a vision from God; when he saw me, he saw the word death float above my head, but it was as if God was breathing air into me and rececitating me. He then said that God wanted me back in His life, to love me and bring me to life. Now as you read this right now and laugh histarically saying “HE’S CRAZY!”, please imagine how I must have felt. As politely as I tried, I appreciated the kid for speaking to me, but I rejected this ‘God’ he spoke of and went about my business. From that day, I had fallen into a great depression for 3 months and contemplated suicide. Before I could actually commit to my plans, I remembered an invitation from a friend to visit their Youth group the previous week. I attended, and it’s as if every word spoken was directly to me, and the void in my heart was filled by God. Not just as a one time encounter, but to this day it’s a feeling that words can’t describe. Now obviously, being in such a broken state of being, I contemplate whether it was just a reaction of my emotions to some nice words, but when I accumulate the evidence, I couldn’t seem to accept that perhaps I was brainwashed. A few weeks after being saved, I went to Georgia . I’d been struggling with my past and just my faith in general.On the plane, I sat next to a stranger who I later found out was Christian missionary to Cambodia. He inspired and encouraged me on the flight, and he shared a word from the Bible with me which was given to his father and was instructed to give it to someone who needed it. That word was Isaiah 43:18-19, and FYI, my name is Isaiah. But again, I speculated and only saw it as coincidence. Weeks later, I found out that a year prior to me having been saved, my sister had also received a prophetic word that within a year, either my father or I would come to know Christ again. Sure enough, I did, and a while after, my father returned. In saying all this, I just don’t know how I can say to myself that God has not intervened in my life. I had no intentions of seeking any deity or religious affiliation, He simply sought me. Given these truths about myself, how do you make sense of this without pointing toward God? Am I emotionally and psychologically unstable? Am I looking too deep into the events that I believe have defined my life? To be quite honest, I truly do admire the intellectual capacity of many atheists and philosophers, but I’d like to know what keeps you driven? Why is it so important to understand our universe, or rather, does knowledge and understanding give YOU peace? I just cant comprehend how many could go on living without the hope of an afterlife, or hope in general. Many individuals look to numerous activities to make up for what may be missing in their lives. I mean we can say we don’t care until we’re on our death bed, but in our hearts we do…it just seems lonely and depressing. So fellow atheists/agnostics, I’m not ranting to stir argument and debate, I’d just like to know and understand your reasoning.
hi. sorry for my english.i have an interesting argument about the existence of god: what if we will see a self replicating robot ( lets say even with dna) on a far planet? do we need to conclude design or a natural process in this case? remember that according to evolution if its made from organic components and have a self replicating system we need to conclude a natural process because it has living traits. but we know that even a self replicating robot is evidence for design. therefore a penguin for instance need design too. what do you think about this argument? have a nice day