Hi.

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In order to not have free will, the universe must be deterministic.

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No. If the universe is deterministic, man can not have free will. But there are ways to not have free will that doesn't depend on the universe being determinstic.

As the Copenhagen interpretation has been brought up (in a defense of free will, no less), I guess continuing on that topic is fair game: It's true that quantum theory states (via Heisenberg's uncertainty principle) that not all events can be predicted. Whether or not that makes the universe deterministic can be debated - and the Copenhagen Interpretation claims "not".

What Bohr and Heisenberg didn't claim, however, is that the human mind is shaped to control these events that have a probability but no certainty (except for maybe Uri Geller). And without that special gift, we're not even free-will-less drones in a deterministic universe, we are free-will-less drones in a RANDOM universe.

So to believe in free will, in any meaningful way that rises above neurons continuing on their cause-and-effect path (random or not), there must be something outside the neurons controlling the neurons. That would surely qualify as a "supernatural power", by most definitions. Religion has an answer for this, science does not.

That doesn't make religion correct. But religious groups need it to be true; because without free will, God sure would be cruel to judge people who can't help but do what they do.

On a related note, I don't encourage proving God's existence through science, but the best logical argument made so far was made 2300 years ago; Aristoteles' "Prime Mover" (or "Unmoved Mover"). It's not proof, but it's an interesting idea, and one that is as valid today as it was then.

Cheers,
FP