It's not a matter of whether free will has negative connotations, be they religious or ideological, just the question: is will free?
As for the evidence, how the brain works, cognition, decision making, behavior, etc, the answer is no, will is determined by the state of the brain, inputs, neural architecture, memory function....therefore will is not free. The term free will tells us nothing about who we are or how we think and act.
