Do you believe in free will?

[chasm]

Ok, you too.

Always.

I don't mean materialism as in worldly possessions if that's what you mean, I mean materialism as in naturalism or as in the belief that matter is all that there is in the universe. In this case I doubt satanists would be materialists because they believe in the spirit of satin.

Okay, 1. I don't think they believe in the spirit of SATIN. That's a fabric, 2. I know you mean Satan. And no, if you know even the littlest bit about Satanism, they DON'T worship or believe in Satan.

I'm talking about free will as in our ability to freely make decisions. We don't have any free choice when it comes to gravity.

Then, of course we have free will. I can choose everything. My favorite color, which foods I like and don't like, if I like this movie or not, if I should pick this job or this job, etc.

I think you misunderstood a little bit sorry if I wrote in a confusing way.

Not entirely your fault. I am confused very easily.

What I'm asking I guess is if you all as atheists believe in free will as in free choice like the freedom of choice to choose to post on these forums or the freedom to choose a favorite color or whatever choice you can think of.

Yes, I believe in that.

Then my next question is that if you as an atheist believe in free will how exactly do you explain it since according to atheism the universe is composed completely of matter and in this view the human person is nothing more then a combination of chemicals and particles. I'm saying if all we are is chemicals then it doesn't seem possible that we could have free will.

And I'M saying that if we are all creations of a malevolent, control-freak sky god, it doesn't seem possible that we could have free will.

So essentially the question is do you believe that human beings have free will in their choices and if so how do you explain such a phenomenon from an atheistic standpoint?

From my standpoint anyway, I explain it as this: I am a thinking creature. I have thoughts. I have power over myself and my thoughts, and therefore my actions and decisions; free will as you call it.

May I ask how you explain free will from a deist standpoint?