This isn’t a columnist’s version of “The 700 Club.”

But I think it is important to acknowledge that as the world continues to change and progress into a new age, the role of God and religion has changed for many, especially college students.
And especially for me.

Lately, a terrible stigma has been attached to organized religion. It seems that the country’s most ignorant are attempting to protect the values they hold dear and use God as a crutch to do so. They feel targeted by the government, and many on the political right say President Barack Obama has created a war against religion. It seems that those who are most religious are characterized by the media as unapologetically unintelligent, bashing scientific theories such as global warming and evolution and using the Bible as evidence against it.

In May, a pastor from Providence Road Baptist Church in North Carolina gained national attention when he said gay and lesbian citizens should be rounded up and fenced in so they can eventually die off because homosexuality is a sin. Although this is the opinion of an extreme minority, its religious connection added to the stigma of organized religion as a group of ignorant, vicious human beings.

Yet not all cases are so extreme. The church I attend in my hometown of Lake Orion, Mich., held a fortnight of prayer because church officials believed the government was infringing on Catholics’ rights. The church targeted Obamacare specifically, saying that forcing Catholics to pay for others to receive birth control was sinful and unconstitutional.

Needless to say, I did not attend. As someone who is very politically involved, there is nothing I hate more than when politics and religion mix. I understand some, including Obama, use their religious beliefs as a guiding principle when making political decisions, but religious beliefs should not be the only thing considered. After all, America is a self-proclaimed melting pot, and it’s key to remember not every American practices the same religion.

It is obvious religion always has played a key role in politics. But once my church started getting too political, bashing our president and encouraging the fight against gay rights and a woman’s right to choose, I found myself struggling with my beliefs.

I always was taught that religion was supposed to be something that unites people in bliss, and that churches were inclusive, rather than exclusive. As more and more of my friends who were once my Sunday school classmates began turning their backs on the Catholic church and, more notably, God himself, I could not find any reason to disagree with their choice.

A few years ago, I was working on a story about atheism and agnosticism as a trend among our generation. I spoke with a man who once was president of the American Atheists, and he told me so many younger people are turning their backs on God because they are more scientifically educated than the previous generation. He added that as science continues to make discoveries, more and more people will see the beliefs and stories written in the Bible as false.

After hearing this, I concluded that a person could not be intelligent and religious, that these qualities did not mix and were constantly in combat.

Now, I know all of this rhetoric makes it seems like I’ve denounced Jesus, and religion altogether. But recently, God has begun to play a different role in my life.

Instead of using religion as a belief system that limits the rights of others to protect my own values, I focus on the positive aspects that Sunday school taught me at such a young age — loving my neighbor and treating others the way I want to be treated.

In Sunday school, I was never taught that being homosexual was wrong or that the only possible way Earth was created was by God himself. We were taught how to be good people, with our teachers instilling kind, friendly values into us and teaching us how to be good citizens and loving humans.

I don’t see my belief in Jesus Christ or the Bible as an excuse to hate. Religion gave me a sense of community as a child and a belief that during times of trouble, prayer, although not the solution, could help.

And whether or not you believe in him, I think that’s the way he would want it to be.