Happy Atheist Forum

What does a Freethinker mean?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sour ... i=g1g-s1g8 (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=freethinker&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g1g-s1g8)

to start your journey...

Is it only Atheists who are freethinkers?

and is it only freethinkers who are smart and intelligent people?

Hi SeekerOfKnowledge. You can introduce yourself in the Introductions forum.

I think a freethinker does not necessarily have to be someone who is not religious or who thinks there are no deities. However, I think the majority are probably atheist or agnostic. Even if they are atheist or agnostic, they will not necessarily self-identify as such. They might say they are a freethinker or a humanist for example.

Freethinkers are not the only smart and intelligent people. Neither are atheist the only smart and intelligent people.

Quote from: "SeekerOfKnowledge"What does a Freethinker mean?

"Freethought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that opinions should be formed on the basis of science, logic, and reason, and should not be influenced by authority, tradition, or any other dogma."

I think the above wiki definition is concise and explains the intent of the word well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freethought (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freethought)

Freethought is not limited to atheists but the nature of most religions would make it hard for a religious person to stick to the ideals of freethought...so freethinking theists are likely to be deist rather than follow a religion (side note:  buddhism, in at least some forms, could be described as a freethinker friendly religion).

Thank you for replying, most Atheists, at least the ones I met hint that you are unintelligent and stupid unless you become an Atheist and a freethinker. it annoyed me I thought they were the close-minded while claiming they are open-minded.

I actually never new such thing as Atheism exist, until I visited the UK and met my Atheist teacher. I thought only atheism exist in communist countries and the other western world is 99% Christian.

Quote from: "SeekerOfKnowledge"Thank you for replying, most Atheists, at least the ones I met hint that you are unintelligent and stupid unless you become an Atheist and a freethinker. it annoyed me I thought they were the close-minded while claiming they are open-minded.

Well, some do wrongly make that claim forgetting that they were once believers too (many western atheists/agnostics come from religious upbringings).  It annoys me too because I don't like misplaced arrogance.  That said...many of the very outspoken anti-science fundamentalist religious people do make it easy for people to forget that not all religious people are that way.

QuoteI actually never new such thing as Atheism exist, until I visited the UK and met my Atheist teacher. I thought only atheism exist in communist countries and the other western world is 99% Christian.

Approximately 15% of the US population is agnostic/atheist/non-religious/freethought....it's a growing demographic.  If my memory is correct the percentage was closer to 6% a few decades ago.

Quote from: "SeekerOfKnowledge"Thank you for replying, most Atheists, at least the ones I met hint that you are unintelligent and stupid unless you become an Atheist and a freethinker. it annoyed me I thought they were the close-minded while claiming they are open-minded.

I actually never new such thing as Atheism exist, until I visited the UK and met my Atheist teacher. I thought only atheism exist in communist countries and the other western world is 99% Christian.

Hello SeekerOfKnowledge. Out of interest, which country did you come to the UK from? I'm guessing you are in the UK to study. Hopefully you'll have a great experience here (i'm in the UK too). There are all sorts of cultures and beliefs represented in the UK. I think anyone who comes here with an open mind generally has a great time. Hopefully you had some interesting conversations with your teacher.

Currently about 45% of the UK population is atheist or agnostic.

Quote from: "karadan"Currently about 45% of the UK population is atheist or agnostic.

I am skeptical about that; so following up on it on wikipedia, found this: (https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fen%2Fthumb%2F4%2F4f%2FBsa-religion-question.svg%2F800px-Bsa-religion-question.svg.png&hash=4962af977f849800ec80987309357df393770972)

Which suggests that 45% of british population profess no religion

However, do not claim all of those 45% as atheists or agnostics; in some sense almost all of them are, but a much lower percentage than that will have responded as an atheist or agnostic compared to those who respond "no religion." Whether the other "no religion" respondents can or should be correctly identified as atheist or agnostic is debatable.

So, just be careful you don't overstate the case

Quote from: "karadan"

Quote from: "SeekerOfKnowledge"Thank you for replying, most Atheists, at least the ones I met hint that you are unintelligent and stupid unless you become an Atheist and a freethinker. it annoyed me I thought they were the close-minded while claiming they are open-minded.

I actually never new such thing as Atheism exist, until I visited the UK and met my Atheist teacher. I thought only atheism exist in communist countries and the other western world is 99% Christian.

Hello SeekerOfKnowledge. Out of interest, which country did you come to the UK from? I'm guessing you are in the UK to study. Hopefully you'll have a great experience here (i'm in the UK too). There are all sorts of cultures and beliefs represented in the UK. I think anyone who comes here with an open mind generally has a great time. Hopefully you had some interesting conversations with your teacher.

Currently about 45% of the UK population is atheist or agnostic.

I come from Saudi Arabia, yeah we had many debates over religion he seems he like the subject even tho it wasn't part of the English course ;p

I'm not in the UK anymore I'm now in a very small town in Canada.

Quote from: "Whitney"

Quote from: "SeekerOfKnowledge"Thank you for replying, most Atheists, at least the ones I met hint that you are unintelligent and stupid unless you become an Atheist and a freethinker. it annoyed me I thought they were the close-minded while claiming they are open-minded.

Well, some do wrongly make that claim forgetting that they were once believers too (many western atheists/agnostics come from religious upbringings).  It annoys me too because I don't like misplaced arrogance.  That said...many of the very outspoken anti-science fundamentalist religious people do make it easy for people to forget that not all religious people are that way.

QuoteI actually never new such thing as Atheism exist, until I visited the UK and met my Atheist teacher. I thought only atheism exist in communist countries and the other western world is 99% Christian.

Approximately 15% of the US population is agnostic/atheist/non-religious/freethought....it's a growing demographic.  If my memory is correct the percentage was closer to 6% a few decades ago.

I don't get it, I used to think Americans left Europe escaping the Catholic church, but it seems that they are the most religious Christians.

QuoteI don't get it, I used to think Americans left Europe escaping the Catholic church, but it seems that they are the most religious Christians.

Many of the early settlers to America were Christian Protestants escaping Catholic persecution.   The Roman Catholic church was not tolerant of other Christian sects (especially anabaptists) and put many to death.  So America was founded, in part, by highly religious people.  Later settlers were escaping famine and poor living conditions and included a number of Catholics.  Of course, times have changed with more and more people realizing that their religious dogma is not concordant with science and common sense.

Quote from: "templeboy"I am skeptical about that;

Which suggests that 45% of british population profess no religion

However, do not claim all of those 45% as atheists or agnostics; in some sense almost all of them are, but a much lower percentage than that will have responded as an atheist or agnostic compared to those who respond "no religion." Whether the other "no religion" respondents can or should be correctly identified as atheist or agnostic is debatable.

So, just be careful you don't overstate the case :)

Seriously though, all sources are different. There are differences of opinion on what classifies a non-religious person and there aren't really any stats for people who just don't care. Afterall, in the last census, millions of people classified themselves as christian simply because that's what they've been told to say since birth (maybe because their parents got them confirmed, etc) but that doesn't mean they practice or even believe in it.. Millions of others, myself included, classified themselves as Jedi. The jedi result was eventually discounted.  I firmly believe the 'true' christian population of the UK is very small. I wouldn't be surprised if it was as low as ten percent.

I didn't get that 45% stat from Wikipedia by the way. I remembered it from somewhere. The census results from 2001 say something very different indeed.

Quote from: "kenh"

QuoteI don't get it, I used to think Americans left Europe escaping the Catholic church, but it seems that they are the most religious Christians.

Many of the early settlers to America were Christian Protestants escaping Catholic persecution.   The Roman Catholic church was not tolerant of other Christian sects (especially anabaptists) and put many to death.  So America was founded, in part, by highly religious people.  Later settlers were escaping famine and poor living conditions and included a number of Catholics.  Of course, times have changed with more and more people realizing that their religious dogma is not concordant with science and common sense.

I disagree with you, well. Christians sometimes are the reason of Atheism I don't think it was science and I don't think it's not concordant with my beliefs. Sometimes their attitude is childish, like saying science is from Satan or science is a cult. not all of them act like that but many do which make their younger family members question their faith.

QuoteI disagree with you, well. Christians sometimes are the reason of Atheism I don't think it was science and I don't think it's not concordant with my beliefs. Sometimes their attitude is childish, like saying science is from Satan or science is a cult. not all of them act like that but many do which make their younger family members question their faith.

I was primarily answering your question about why America is so religious.  It's a matter of one Christian religion (protestants) coming to America to flee another (Catholic).  You'll find the two have clashed since the protestant reformation in the 17th century.  As far as science and religion goes, we are battling creationists trying to push their faith-based agenda in our public schools.  They are making inroads in some states.  Their ultimate goal is to discredit evolution and real science, based on their interpretation of bible scriptures.

Quote from: "SeekerOfKnowledge"I disagree with you, well. Christians sometimes are the reason of Atheism I don't think it was science and I don't think it's not concordant with my beliefs. Sometimes their attitude is childish, like saying science is from Satan or science is a cult. not all of them act like that but many do which make their younger family members question their faith.

I think maybe the two of you do agree but just didn't agree on the generalized comment about religion not being compatible with accepting science.

I personally think questioning faith is very healthy even if that person ends up going back to the religion they were questioning.  It's through questioning our views that we further refine them to express what is real rather than what we were taught is real or hope is real.