Jeet Heer actually gets it: "Freethought" is not a word that means you get to babble stupidly about whatever opinion you hold.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2018/05/13/freethought/
I find it's simply a more fancy self-applied label for the "It's just your opinion, man" folks. There is also a streak of chronic devil's advocatism. It probably stems from the common fallacy that you can Golden Mean every significant debate in public discourse.
