Free will and consciousness.

[wnylib]

29. You said

"God has the power to 'change mens' hearts and has been given the credit for doing so."


Yes that is the standatd Christian teaching on grace and salvation by faith.

I am not so sure, as you said, that if you do not believe in an all-powerful god, you can have all the free will you want. Unless you are just using that as a contrasting statement on religion.

I wonder how many choices and decisions are due to social conditioning and pressure or even biological inheritance to some extent.

Identical twin studies show that some of our preferences seem to have biological bases.

Consider dog and cat breeds. They can be bred for behaviorsl traits as well as physical ones. Each dog or cat within a breed will have its own personality but some behaviors will be pedictable by breed.

Of course we can reason and make rational decisions. We can change our behaviors with conscious choices and efforts. We csn calculate and manipulate our environment and people. We can plan. But perhaps not all of our choices snd decisions can be made with free will.