How to tell a real freethinker

[Tonus]

I could go on, but the point is that real freethinkers include many highly intelligent and skeptical people who became Christians. They believe partly because they are skeptical of mindless skepticism, of the simplistic, illogical and gratuitous arguments that the Gospels are false records. They realize that the burden is on the critic to prove they are false. Calling people deluded or dishonest requires proof, especially when they had nothing to gain but persecution. (A historic fact).

If a person making a claim does not offer any proof and makes claims of "evidence" that are specious at best and utterly ridiculous at worst and wraps it all in a mess of confusing and/or idiotic rationalizations, then I think that's plenty of proof that they are either deluded or dishonest.

I readily admit that I cannot disprove god. I spent decades believing in god wholeheartedly, but never managed to scrounge up any proof, just the awkward "evidence" and unconvincing "arguments" that so many theists tend to throw up as a shield. If he's out there and you can prove it, that's great. If your argument is that, 'gosh... he's too darned clever to be found' then we're back at square one.