A compelling essay on free will from an internationally recognized authority on atheism, and author of God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction . Do we have free will? And if we don't, why do we feel as if we do? In a godless universe governed by impersonal laws of cause and effect, are you responsible for your actions? Former evangelical minister Dan Barker ( God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction ) unveils a novel solution to the question that has baffled scientists and philosophers for millennia. He outlines the concept of what he calls "harmonic free will," a two-dimensional perspective that pivots the paradox on its axis to show that there is no single answer--both sides are right. Free will is a useful illusion: not a scientific, but a social truth.