In 19th century England "freethinker" meant one prepared to go against the dominant religious orthodoxy.-"The Freethinker" magazine has been "the voice of atheism since 1881"-http://freethinker.co.uk/- There's lots of good arguments to show that Jesus never existed:-http://www.jesusneverexisted.com/-and very little evidence that he did.-Of course a lot of the NT consists of nice stories and parables, just as do the tales of King Arthur or Robin Hood or William Tell.