Atheists: Do any of you believe in the unintelligible ideas of "free will" or "personal responsibility"?

Sure, I just don't believe that I am subject to, or need to answer to some god.

about the pinball, it is programmed that way. the closest thing to programming that we have is reflexes and hunger. we can control our reflexes. have you ever had someone that made you flinch because of a movement they did? did they do it several times in a row and then you learned that they aren't actually going to hit you so eventually you stopped flinching? we can also control hunger. many people do this while fasting or on some sort of spiritual trip. we can also control how much pain we feel. we control these things by desensitization. so yes we do have free will. also as for the "behavior, thoughts etc. controlled by hormones and chemicals" well our brain controls those chemicals and visa versa. so yes in a way we control out hormones. most are used as survival techniques that we have developed. for example the fight or flight situation. our hormones effect our way of thinking during that time but we still make the choice of fight or flight. as for personal responsibility, we have that as well. it's our personal responsibility to feed ourselves and like i mentioned earlier we can control our hunger. yes our hunger may affect our thinking but we can learn to control it. a good example of this would be a lazy teenager asking their mother to make them some food. the mother says no so the kid says never mind i'm not hungry and may not eat for the rest of they night. even though their body was sending them messages to eat or possibly die they still chose not to.

Yes and no.

Because we can't prove the existence of free will, but human social behavior (and our innate habits) acts as if it does exist. I have no problem living with a logical contradiction. Do you?

Personal responsibility is a different animal. Totally social construction. We assign it to individuals because society needs a way of placing blame and asserting the cause of actions. I believe in it too, in the same way I believe in "money" or "language." It's a necessary social convention.

Yes.

I am not restricted by the laws of invisible people, plain and simple.

I believe free will is a concept, which no one has. I cannot go out and kill you because law will restrict me, and I know that doing so will make your family sad.

Unlike theists, atheists make crucial decisions, because we acknowledge that fact that what we have is here and now, no afterlife. Hench I am donating 50K per year, because I know one day I will die, and I wanna make sure to be as helpful as possible before I die. I dont care if anyone remembers me, as long as I know I did something that helped another living being.

Free will: yes, within the confines of human reason, we have free will. By this, I mean that we can do everything that we are able to do.

Personal responsibility: yes, within the confines of human society. You will not pay for your wrongdoings after you die, if you live in a functional society, you will most likely face the consequences of your actions within your lifetime. The concept of "judgement" is simply an idea to scare people, and to supplement nonfunctional human systems of justice.

I call it living with my conscience. I let my feelings be my moral compass. If I feel badly about something I am considering, I know that it is a bad idea to act upon my instincts. This keeps me from stealing, lying and cheating, even if I know I can get away with it. I can't live with myself if I know I caused someone else pain as a direct result of my actions- or guilt as it is commonly known.

Free Will, the acknowledgement that I can do anything. Yes, I do. Do you? theists are bound to laws made up by people to restrict, and serves no purpose at all. The only laws we atheists follow is those of the governments laws, thats a fact.

"Personal responsibility", yes. Everything ive done is acknowledge by myself as my owns judgement, theists dont, because they do stuff because they are told to do so.

Yes

I am no atheist (yet)

but believe the ideas of "freewill" and "personal responsibility" to be very intelligible....

That's probably why I believe them..

The ideas are not strictly the domain of the theist, plenty of atheists share them

If free will exists it is very limited. How can a person born with a particular set of genes which they do not choose into a poor, abusive family to a mother who took crack while pregnant causing impairment have free will ?

Depends on what you mean by "freewill"

I have freewill to masturbate, play New Vegas, or stay on Y!A......There is no real punishment for doing any of them, so nothing to force me one way or another.

"If the behavior, thoughts, feelings, and actions of human beings are the result of neuronal activity, which in turn are based on physical and chemical forces, how is it that "you" chose to do anything? "

Because that "neuronal activity" is us.

Idk, that being used to say we don't have freewill sounds retarded to me.