Is free will a religious concept? If so, is free will intended to deny or defeat the will of God?

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Free will is an intensely old concept that didn’t earn that terminology until the fourth century CE, the term “free will” or in Latin, “liberum arbitrium” was invented by Christians. Of course naturally, despite not being called such, the concept was debated and basic positions were identified centuries prior. Theological debate has a way of clarifying things that philosophy only muddies.

Positions on free will can be divided into compatibilist and incompatibilist, hinging on whether the concept is compatible with determinism. Compatibilism is generally associated with religious positions, incompatibilism is generally associated with skeptical ones.

Abrahamic theology holds that humans have their free wills enhanced by engagement with the divine. If you engage with God, then you can do more with your life. God’s will, generally speaking, is for humans to act in ways that promote the free will of all. It was the aforementioned Christians who articulated the meaning of free will as lack of ‘necessity’ in human action.

Christian theology and morality generally holds that certain actions lead to more free will and other actions lead to less. Free will is, as such, an intensely hotly debated subject. A study of Abrahamic scripture reveals that God almost never forces humans to act in good ways. The good way has to be asked of God, it’s never immediately evident, kings have to consult prophets to divine the best path forward.

However he quite frequently forces humans to act in bad ones. God is considered to be omnibenevolent, and that goodness is determined by ‘overall’ moral weight, in other words, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. So if God forces bad outcomes, it’s tacitly understood by believers that God is ameliorating the consequences for good people behind the scenes and that the course of action God took was the best possible one.

Abrahamic theology is very explicit in depicting the wickedness of humanity, if God does not find creative ways to chastise His people, then wickedness will overtake the whole lot, necessitating large-scale destructive events such as the Flood or the destruction of numerous cities.

Forcing His people into murderous zealotry seems to have been considered a valid divine teaching technique. I’m reminded of how, 20 years ago, it was considered good parenting by some to, as soon as one’s child expressed interest in a particular vice, to force that vice down their throat for a whole day to cause them to never want it again.

Despite the unclear morality of such a practice, it certainly seems less hostile to the concept of free will than totally preventing bad things from ever happening. It seems to be an irreducible concept that in order for humans to be free, we have to be free to do bad things to ourselves and others. Our will seems to be forever destined to be in ever-decreasing levels of conflict with divine will.

So perhaps the literal answer to your question is ‘yes’ however the real answer is, “no, it’s what God has intended for us the entire time.”