Whether you were raised Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, agnostic or atheist, you've probably contemplated the possibility of some kind of God. You've considered the possibility that some entity made you, has a purpose for you, maybe even loves you. You've also considered that you are merely a product of millions of years of evolution and can forge any path you'd like because no one up there cares either way. I know you have because you are human.

But right now, with all that's happening in the world, I bet you're doubting more than ever. Between the wave of radical Islam in the Middle East, and the extremist Christians shouting profanities at Trump rallies, I bet you're thinking of religion as pretty much a lost cause at this point.

The world has taught us, in our short lifetimes, that religion is a tool for evil, a tool of oppression. We see it over and over again in our broken world. We see it in Islamic extremists who kill for their God. We see it in Christians who swear Jesus was a white supremacist and loved guns.

We so often see bad being done in the name of God. We think of God and think of ignorance and hate. But that is religion, not God.

Religion is not inherently evil; it is the flaw of men who bring evil to religion, but all the same, I understand if you reject religion.

But I urge you not to reject God.

Let me start by saying, I'm not going to solve the problem of God in this one article for this one online magazine. I simply don't know if there is some larger force out there, but I believe there is.

As a college student, it's really easy and convenient to reject the way we were raised, particularly if you were raised in a religious household. It comes with a newfound sense of independence, and it’s what we're surrounded by. I also think many of us college kids, if we're being honest, have had pretty sheltered, uncomplicated lives so far. Religion is complicated and multi-faceted and in some ways, equipped to deal with the world being a dark, scary place. We haven't seen the world as very dark or scary yet, so the scary side of religion seems a little absurd and unnecessary. We feel confident in our own faculties and that they can carry us through whatever we need to get through. We feel very far away from death.

People with nothing, living lives out of their control, turn to God because they see him as a protector and a liberator. We have no need for these functions so we see them as absurd and rather dark and reject the idea of the existence of the kind of evil deities that they are meant to deal with.

I have no idea what kind of God there is and I doubt it can even be comprehended entirely. I think a mistake is trying to fully understand. Trying to define something without definition will always leave you with something to small to fit the role of omniscient God.

We all have this sense of something greater, an inborn need to believe in a "God," whatever that means to you. Every civilization since the dawn of time, no matter how far removed, has believed in a higher being in some sense. I think it would be the dirtiest trick in the world for that to be an evolutionary random feeling.

You can logic your way out of God very easily, but I think it's important to remember most of the best things in the world, like love, defy logic. As college students, we have had our heads nurtured our whole lives, that's been the focus of our lives so far, to gain knowledge and understanding of the world. Our emotional and spiritual lives have been left almost entirely up to us. We have underdeveloped senses of our own hearts, a very American problem. In this, I think we find a rejection of the mysterious and the unknowable. We find feelings and forces that don't make logical sense hard to believe in, even if they do make sense to our souls.

What I want you to consider is this: maybe God isn't in a burning bush or a booming voice from the sky.
Maybe God is in that play that made you cry and rise to your feet and cheer bravo.
Maybe God is in that butterfly that landed on your nose while you were hiking with your dad.
Maybe God is in the woman who pretends to be your friend at the bar because that one guy won't leave you alone.
Maybe God is the voice in your head telling you to hold on in your darkest hour.

Don't accept anything. This is a time in your life where it is so important to question everything you've always taken for granted. If you feel you must reject the religion of your parents, go ahead. You are forming your own opinions, and for the first time in your life, you are independent.

But don't give up on the idea that maybe there is something tying us all together. Maybe there is a big picture.

Separate God from religion. When you strip away all the conflict and hate, maybe God is just love.