What is free will?

My cat Winsill.

I have been reading the comments at Friendly Atheist. There have been many comments about free will by both theist and atheist. I know many christians say that their god gives them free will but I have never seen how such could really be believed. I am basing my view on what some christians have said to me not those that are trained in religion but only know what they have been told and read to try and defend their beliefs. I really think that most christians have a completely different idea of what free will is compared to what non believers and atheist see it as.

I am always hearing how everything happens according to their god's plan. Well that is unless it is something evil and then they blame it on the devil. I can't say how a god would make a plan but from what I know of the christian god, I would say that it would be micro managed. I have done that kind of planning and it tends to force any others involved into doing things in ways they might not want to do them.  When anything is micro managed you can't say you have a free choice on how you are doing something. If their god is doing it this way then how can they say anyone has a choice in what they do? If he/she/it isn't micro managing then how is he running his plan? I have made plans where I just had a basic outline and those never finished exactly as I had hoped they would. If their god has just a basic plan and free will does have a way in this type of plan, how can the end not be changing all the time? I know even simple projects will end differentkly each time you do them if you alter any step even a small amount.

Another part of this question I seem to never get an answer to is how does the devil come into this? Does the devil do the will of their god or does he/she/it go against the will of their god? If the devil is doing the will of their god, doesn't that mean there really isn't anything evil other then how we name them? Since they claim all that their god does is good, that would mean that the devils actions in their god's eye would be acts of good but seen by us as evil.

If the devil is able to go against the will of their god, what does that do to the plan? I know when someone from outside decides to interfere with someone elses plans, it usually screws things up and causes problems that are unseen. Yes I know that christians claim their god is all knowing but that would mean he/she/it knew that the devil would be doing this or that and it was allowed. I would say this means it is part of his plan and will.

The way I see it, if you believe in a plan by any god or goddess you can't believe in free will.