Not Convinced Determinism Makes Sense of Moral Responsibility. Convince Me It Does

[bennyboy]

It seems that one of the strongest selling points for theism is moral responsibility and free will, oftentimes in a form of the Moral argument for God's existence. However, I think its safe to say that scientific research has thoroughly vindicated the old philosophical notion of determinism, which necessarily negates the traditional (if not incoherent) idea that man is *actually* free to choose his thoughts/behaviors. Determinism is held by the majority of atheists I've encountered and many of them also hold to some idea of moral absolutes, which in my mind entails duties or responsibilities. Can someone explain to me how determinists define free will differently than it has been traditionally understood and how humans can be held morally responsible for actions they were not actually the cause for?

Sure: "You couldn't have done otherwise, but you need to be punished for doing it!" as opposed to "You could have done otherwise, but chose of your own free will not to, so you deserve to be punished."