Believing that we are not programmed to do what we do but are responsible for what we do is bad news because:

§      There is no evidence to refute the view that we are programmed to do what we do.  We could be entirely programmed to feel like free beings.  You need proof before you can accuse anybody of being responsible for evil otherwise what you end up doing is making a hypocrite of yourself and committing the hate-filled malevolent act of accusing your neighbour without justification.

§      Our will is a feeling itself.  The reason we feel free is not because we are free but because the programming that makes us do what we do works through causing our feeling of attraction to things.  When you break down your actions step by step you soon see that you only think you felt free.  When you look back in memory you see the events collectively and you think you felt free.  If I want some coffee I am only conscious of one thought per instant and the next thought comes in unsummoned out of nowhere and not under my control.  I don’t really know what I am doing at each instant for I have only one thought at a time so I am undoubtedly programmed.

§      There is no need to believe in personal responsibility at all.  People think that if you deny personal responsibility then you give a bad person no reason to change their ways for the better for you are telling them its not their fault they are bad.  But responsible or not, people will not change unless they are made to see that there is a better way and to feel it.  So change has nothing to do with responsibility.  It is because we are programmable that trying to change people is worthwhile.

§      The other big attraction about faith in personal responsibility is that it seems to justify rewards and punishments.  But we do not give rewards because a person has free will but because that person has made achievements we want to encourage and acknowledge.  As for punishment which is paying back a person for doing wrong we do not need it.  Yes we need to jail people but we can do that without belief in responsibility for protecting society from evildoing is what is important.

§      People like the doctrine of free will or personal responsibility because it seems to induce guilt.  But we often feel guilty about things that are not our fault so we can still have guilt.  Anyway we should do right because we like to and not because of guilt.  Guilt is useless.

§      If John insults me and I am hurt it does not follow that John hurt me.  Many other people insult me and I am not hurt so John is not really the reason.  I am just programmed to feel hurt by that kind of insult.  This means that even if personal responsibility does exist, it cannot have any bearing on the way we live our lives so we may as well disbelieve in it.  The reason it is believed in is because people want to blame others for hurting them - a ruse that does not work.

§      Personal responsibility or free will is a religious superstition and so has no place in the law of the land.  All our actions are caused by our perceptions which means that free will would have to be a miracle we work to get around these causes so that we have a choice so it depends on the supernatural which is the basis of religion.  It is used as an excuse for not blaming God for human evil and that’s why it is popular for if it is wrong then there is no God.  Religious faith and politics have to be separated.

§      Sin is using your free will to offend God.  It is very important that children not be exposed to nonsense about sin for if God is perfect good then he hates sin with a ferocity we can never imagine and we are to be like him so we have to hate the sinner as intensely as possible.  You cannot love the sinner and hate the sin for sin is doing wrong of our free will and so condemning sin is condemning the person.  The person and the sin cannot be separated.  If you can love sinner and hate sin there is no point in believing in free will in the first place for you are saying that sin is not part of the person but something that comes into existence through the person.  Indeed then you would be denying free will exists!  If you love the sinner and hate the sin then why can’t you trust the sinner but not trust the sin?  See the hypocrisy and double-standard?