There are a few things religion absorbs and claims as its own. There are also some atheists who reject the subject of their claim simply because they did absorb it. Morals, purpose ..circumcision.. and free will are some of those things.

I don't see how your reasoning lead up to your conclusion on free will, but I think our free will is a biological mechanism that evolved out of necessity. Back when life was just evolving nerve cells, they were for a single purpose. As life evolved and more functions appeared, there would eventually be conflicting functions. A tail in the back that is trying to propel while its eyes in front see danger ahead.. a chemical receptor drawing it toward a chemical while its sense of temperature is saying danger. A mechanism would have evolved for communication between functions, what we (me) call consciousness. Without this mechanism, without a function of communication between different nerve cells, all of early life's simple functions would be trying to function at once and it wouldn't survive to be able to evolve into what it is today.

Buridan's ass is a thought experiment often in discussion of free will. Stating that when a donkey is hungry and presents with 2 stacks of hay that are completely the same, the donkey won't be able to pick between the 2 and starve to death. That neurologically, the stacks have equal influence. The same number and size of the straws, the same position, the same distance away from the donkey.. every.. every detail mirrored, it'll activate conflicting neurons that cancel each other out.

That illustrates why I think life wouldn't have survived to evolve. When life was simple organisms with just a few functions with simple nerve cells, there would be a point where the organisms shut down and wouldn't be fit for survival.

That's where our free will comes from. While some things might be harder to override, like addictions and habits and reflexes, we have the ability to interrupt a function at will.

What sucks though, since it's a function of your physical brain.. it can be damaged, destroyed, or manipulated even. That usually spells disaster for the brain and hinders living.

No it doesn’t

Yes it does

The illusion of it does. A bit like being on a cruise ship. Do what you like on board but you will still end up in New York.

Desire wells up in our bodies. We have no control over the welling up of desire—that desire is regulated by subconscious animal instincts inherited through ages of evolution. I am in fact, hungry right now, but I plan to dine in a restaurant tonight. I am able to consciously control my body and cause it to wait. Sometimes I think of something I want to accomplish. I have to nudge the body into action. That self-control, that nudging into action—those things represent conscious awareness and free will IMO.

Our bodies can run along on autopilot for a time, but eventually problems will arise requiring a free agent to override programming and chart a new course. That overriding process is an enigma that is not understood. Sometimes instructions are received through other people.

The universe tells us what to do, so therefore there’s no free will. But we collectively are the universe, so yes there actually is free will. It’s just that the sense of self as a body is an illusion. That’s how I see it anyway.