help me understand "freethinkers"?

Question

what I don't understand is that a part of the definition of freethought implies that beliefs should be formed on science and logical principals. if beliefs should be formed on science and logical principals, then why is it called freethought?
is "freethought" stand as just a name of some sort of a religion or something, and not really free thinking?.

excuse me if the answer was too stupid or something .....I'm just 17 :) and I'd like to thank you for putting some effort in answering my question, because I may not have time to come back and chose a best answer.

Answer 1

I don't think its a stupid question. "Freethinkers" are people who believe in God, but go it alone. They base their beliefs on reason, etc. In many ways they are similar to Deists, but one major distinction is that Deists (most, anyway) believe that God does not intervene in the world, whereas most Freethinkers do.

Mark Twain was a freethinker. He believed in Satan, for example, but believed he was merely a scapegoat for all the evil in the world. He did not believe that Satan himself was guilty of all of it (he once joked that when he got to Heaven, the first thing he was going to do was defend Satan). Twain also wrote a scathing account of why he disagreed with the story of the Creation, the Flood, etc. (see his book Letters from the Earth).

Often, Freethinkers begin with religion (usually Christianity), but go off on their own way.

Answer 2

thought implies using the mind, not the heart, or "gut feelings."

Thought means weighing all the evidence at hand, all the possible sides to a debate, and seeing which one, if any, makes the most sense. If new evidence or a different perspective is offered later on that warrants further thought, you re-think it.

Thinking is thus the basis of science and logic.

Some people use the term "religion" to describe belief in a sibngular, unquestioning doctrine (it isn't necessarily so). While belief isn't necessarily contradictory to free-thinking, doctrinasl thinking usually corresponds with an unwillingness to consider all the arguments, or to be selective about which evidence "counts."

Answer 3

You ask a very good question. To me a free thinker is someone who has looked at the areas they are interested in and weighed the evidence and chosen that belief as their own. After that one tends to be narrow minded and refuses to look at other forms of thought.

Those that follow logic or science are usually not free thinkers but Atheists, Agnostic, Philosophers and the like.

Free thinkers tend to be wishy washy and say "Believe whatever is true for you" and those that try to adopt all forms of belief.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

This is an excellent question I am afraid!
Yes, freethought is more than often considered as a very specific way of thinking, linked to atheism or agnosticism..
In fact, freethought is what YOU freely think it is!! no one can tell you what it is, otherwise it is no more freethought...
Well, that's at least my personnal viewing... Please don't think I am right, just think freely...

Answer 5

"freethought" is this made up beliefe to convince athiest and the like their of, convince themselves that they have escaped the brainwashing of religion, when they are infact being brainwashed by science books.

Answer 6

freethinking means you're allowed to consider any possibility instead of being a slave to superstition and religious dogma

Answer 7

Freethinkers are those who don't appeal to authorities that hold biases.

Answer 8

what darwin there said ... it is about choice