Free Thought Isn't Free

I have at times, argued quite extensively with atheists on AC, primarily Jeff Musall and Jack Oceano. During these arguments, I have often heard them and other atheists use the words "free thought" and "freethinker" in association with their beliefs. The definition of a freethinker is someone who forms an opinion about religion, morals, etc. independently. Nowhere in this definition does it imply that a freethinker shuns religion. The definition that the aforementioned writers seem to be going by is "one who is an atheist".

Let's examine just what it means to form an opinion "independently" shall we? The first problem that you run into is that no one ever forms a completely independent opinion. There is always someone that you look up to or an event or experience that shapes the way in which one views the world. Since this statement, therefore, cannot be taken as an absolute, we must begin not by looking at what freethinking is but rather at what it definitely is not. Freethinking is not when someone else tells you what to believe and you listen to them without question. Freethinking is not when you are never exposed to other beliefs. Freethinking is not when you are being influenced by the surrounding culture to take on a system of beliefs without a second thought.