Atheists aren't necessarily anything other than non-theists. An atheist could believe in ghosts.
I believe in determinism though, and I don't think there's any free will. I don't think there's any room for free will even if the spiritual exists. Souls would still be determined. I rejected free will on the basis of thinking about the soul, and thoughts, not because of physical determinism.
What do you think is the problem with belief or science if there isn't free will. You even say yourself that we can reason without free will. A computer doesn't need free will to tell you that 2+2=4, and be correct.
You also don't need free will for moral action. You could question whether we can blame or praise people for doing the wrong or right thing though.
I recall reading an experiment by a researcher who tried suggesting to one group of people that they all had free will and to another group of people there is no such thing as free will and testing them for what kind of choices they made afterwards. The group assured they had free will were more likely to choose long term benefits over short term benefits.
So apparently assuring each other we do have free will can have survival benefits for the group.
Doesn't make it true, of course, but does make add an interesting wrinkle to the discussion.
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