I find it ironic that people like Hitchens call themselves “Freethinkers.”
they are quite the opposite. Unlike agnostics or people who simply say “I don’t know,” atheists insist there is no greater power of any kind, nor is there absolutely anything which connects all human spirits - indeed, they deny the human soul even exists.
its a very arrogant, backward, absolutist position - quite the opposite of “free thinking.”
“its a very arrogant, backward, absolutist position - quite the opposite of ‘free thinking’”
You must bear in mind that the term comes from the Way Back When, when people actually revered things and respectability was limited to believers, moreso even than how it is limited to non-racists nowadays. Also, it was, like all self-applied signifiers, self-flattering. We know now, as most people knew then, that “freethinkers” could be the most dogmatic and oppressive thinkers on earth (cf. commies).
It's pure hate foaming from their mouths like they were pawns of Satan.
I love a lot of the stuff Penn & Teller do. But don't get them started on religion and god...they go berserk.