Predetermined?

I was listening to the excellent WNYC Radio Lab podcast about time, when I came to an strange thought. Some theoretical physicists and some conservative Christians happen to have in common that they believe the universe is predetermined.

The Calvinists and some other groups believe in a system where their god has predetermined their entire lives and all of time. Similarly, some physicists believe that time is more of an illusion than a reality, we may be living in a rolling "now." Each moment of our past and future may be static, "eternal" instants. Instead of time moving past us like a river, we may in fact be traveling through time. The word eternal loses a little meaning when time is erased.

It's not so much of a revolution to know that some religous groups believe that free will doesn't exist. It's a wonderful excuse for sins of all kinds, since they are not in control, God is. But for physics to predict that our own free will is an illusion is a strange thought. For some reason, the concept makes sense to me. Perhaps because of my long running fascination with time scales of all sizes. Either way, I don't think a predetermined future relieves any of our responsibility for our present acts. The fact that our future, or any possible future (if you believe the multiverse theory) exists means we would have chosen to do it.

None of this may even be a reality, it is theoretical physics, but it is an interesting idea that relates some conservative Christianity with some liberal physics.