I'm an atheist and many of my friends and family are also. I can assure you that very very few of them are 'free thinkers', though it is not uncommon for them to believe they are, and sometimes by virtue of their atheism itself.
Currently I find that some of the people I respect the most in terms of being 'free thinkers' are are least mildly religious. They tend to be unafraid to 'admit' their religiosity, but at the same time they rarely lean on their beliefs to inform their thinking and rhetorical arguments. Most of the time I don't know that they are religious for a long time.
I've come to feel that being mildly religious gives people a certain freedom from certain constraints and lets them analyze with at least a different if not a lesser burden of baggage. It is abundantly clear why more totalitarian forms of government are adverse to organized religion, or at least religions that are outside of their control. There is a strong correlation between atheism (and especially militant atheism) among my friends/family and obedience/affection for the socialist state apparatus.
Hi tvbcof, I'm honored to read a comment like yours, you are someone who is very honest, and able to admit reality even when it is not playing on his side. I respect you are an atheist even though I don't approve it. I was born with a different religion, but I was bold enough to recognize what I believed was wrong. But man, I'm curious, how did you become an atheist? Were you born an atheist or did you come to the conclusion yourself there was no God? Because I can tell you I have 100% certainty there is a God. I'm not telling this just out of faith don't get me wrong. We can have a friendly discussion you can pm me if you like.