We’ve talked about atheism and Secular Humanism, so now lets talk about what it means to be a Freethinker. The definition of a Freethinker is “a person who rejects accepted opinions, especially those concerning religious belief.”
Does that mean that Freethinkers reject all claims? Of course not. Freethinkers demand evidence before accepting a claim. A Freethinker makes an effort to think about the things they are told before they accept the claim. Freethinkers can be both theists or atheists, but mos Freethinkers are atheists. A Freethinker must also realize that they might be wrong, so it is impossible to gnostic about your belief claim and be a Freethinker.
Wikipedia defines Freethought (the act of being a Freethinker) as follows: “Freethought — or free thought — is a philosophical viewpoint which holds that positions regarding truth should be formed on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism, rather than authority, tradition, or other dogmas. The cognitive application of freethought is known as “freethinking”, and practitioners of freethought are known as “freethinkers”.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freethought
hessianwithteeth 
December 6th, 2014 at 9:28 pm
It has been my experience that by your definition more atheists were unwilling to be open than theists their preconceived notions being no less firmly held!
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December 6th, 2014 at 10:04 pm
Had you been reading this is the definition of Freethinker, not atheist. They are separate ideas. Further more we have a post on what it is to be an atheist, so I suggest you read that and post there.
Though now I feel the need to quip.
One should be open minded, but not so open minded that ones brain falls out. It’s the difference between being open to new ideas and being credulous.
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December 3rd, 2014 at 1:33 am
I have never identified myself as a freethinker, but I guess I am. Thanks for this post. I don’t think I would have actually looked it up myself. It was just one of those terms that I heard a lot, but never really thought about.
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December 2nd, 2014 at 12:21 am
Freethinking is important, but let’s be real, people who think of themselves as free-thinkers can be really grating. We all have biases, some we’ll never be able to even identify because they’re tied in with society or language. Not that we shouldn’t try to be free-thinking, because we should.
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December 1st, 2014 at 11:33 pm
Your post got me thinking about freethought – so much so that I made a post on it. https://findingfaithfulness.wordpress.com/2014/12/02/freethinking-can-be-dangerous/
I linked your blog post in my post. I hope you check it out and tell me what you think.
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December 1st, 2014 at 8:42 pm
There’s an interesting human phenomenon – humans are more likely to believe someone who is confident; the paradox is, to paraphrase Bertrand Russell, the dumbest people are most confident, and the smartest people are least confident…I suppose that’s the Dunning-Kruger effect
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December 1st, 2014 at 6:09 pm
I would like to say that I’m a freethinker, but… Well. Let’s just say I’m working on it. I have an unfortunate tendency to believe anything I read.
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