Atheism =/= freethinking

Just because a person doesn't believe in God, that doesn't mean that they are a freethinker. And I don't think a believer in God is any less "free" (at least as long as they have the option to be an atheist). I have come across many close-minded atheists and many close-minded believers. The reality is that those people that label themselves as a 'freethinker' are probably not all that original with their thinking. In fact the vast majority of ideas are not original (i.e. we got them from someone else). Atheist or not, we can only work with the knowledge that we possess. And the foundation of our knowledge comes from the experience of being exposed to the ideas of others. I don't believe an atheist is any more "free" than a believer, they simply have a different set of ideas that they find to be believable. Believers are exposed to a lot of the same information that atheists are exposed to (same education and media resources), they simply choose to stick with belief as oppose to going to atheism. This doesn't make them any less "free". Those that believe that they are freethinkers are probably just as much of a sheep as a believer (different herder). Being an atheist only means that you don't believe in a god, and that is where it ends (atheism is not connected with political affiliation or science).