What is the differnce of a freethinker and a atheist?

Question

and for that matter what is the differnces between an agnostic and a atheist?

Answer 1

The comparison between a free thinker and an atheist cannot be quantified, for the two concepts have nothing in common.

The atheist does not believe in a God, but that does not mean that they are not free thinkers. In fact, many atheists come to their particular belief after much thought that diverges from the thinking which was presented to them as fact or truth in their youth.

However, some atheists do not come to their belief through intellectual reasoning. Instead, a certain percentage come to that belief simply through their emotions. They "feel" that there must not be a God, therefore they decide that this must be true because it seems so true to them.

And, of course, others come to this belief through a mixture of thinking and feeling.

Sometimes feelings stimulate thoughts. Sometimes thoughts stimulate feelings. Sometimes there is no way to tell what stimulated what.

An agnostic does not have a definite belief for or against God. They either decide it is a concept not worth worrying about or they feel that the evidence does not clearly point in one direction or the other.

Now, some people of certain beliefs will say that they came to their faith through pure thinking, so they will therefore claim that others who do not believe as they do are not true free thinkers.

New Testament theology teaches that the knowledge of God comes not through thinking or emotions but rather through a revelation from God.

As you consider other statements in answer to your question, you will see that absolute truth is very elusive.

Even Christians believe that "...faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1)

Answer 2

That being a freethinker doesn't guarantee that you're an atheist, that is to say, one could be a freethinker and not an atheist.

Broadly, being an Agnostic means to suspend your judgment about the knowledge of God, i.e. "I don't know whether God exists or not".

An Atheist is someone, in the hard sense, who denies God existence entirely finding it to be utterly irrational and abhorrent for a human being to uphold such a belief

Answer 3

A freethinker thinks what he wants to think without influence from outside ideas. An atheist is a person who does not believe God exists regardless of outside arguments. A freethinker can be convinced of a God, an Atheist will resist any such idea.

Answer 4

A Free Thinker is not bound by any ideas but thinks up new ones. A Free Thinker will not just accept one version of an event but will question all the thinker thought was known about it. A Free Thinker will acknowledge a case where world powers are involved in Calling The Kettle Black. The case involves Internment of people during WW1 AND WW2 by Allied Powers while calling a well known Western Leader a Russian one a Dictator.

Answer 5

There is no dichotomy between "freethinking" and "atheism" that you have created here, so there is no answer. An agnostic sits on the fence of belief, unwilling to put down his feet on either side. An atheist walks on the side of the fence that does not believe.

Answer 6

LOL
A freethinker is more impressed with himself. As if only he is capable of free thought. I kind of see the freethinkers as uptight, arrogant atheists.
An atheist simply does not believe in God, but makes no judgment about the IQ of others.

An agnostic lives like an atheist, but has the intellectual honesty to understand that atheism requires a leap of faith similar in magnitude to theism.

Answer 7

Atheists are liberated from the blinders of religious dogma, and by definition, are freethinkers.....

Agnostics still have underlying hopes or doubts about the absolute reality of a non-supernatural worldview..no matter how irrational that might be..

Answer 8

A freethinker is someone who doesn't necessarily not believe, but probably doesn't believe in any organized religion.

An atheist does not believe that there are any types of god out there and is completely religion, belief free. They have different beliefs, but they're not anything close to religious like.

Answer 9

the simplest choice of answer would have to be:

a) a freethinker does not imply atheism--only that the person is open to new concepts and ideas and holds no objectivity to change.
b) an atheist, however, feels he is completely right in there being no existence of god, and logically he is right. however, being so objective, he loses the open-mindedness of the freethinker, who accepts the uncertainty principle of our universe. all things are possible on some plane or another and we're on most all of them.

Answer 10

Freethinker is an Agnostic , which stands on the edge of the fence , can see both sides of the fence and is actually the smart one of them all , takes both points of view and makes his own a very safe one ...