Only 20% of young British people are active followers of Jesus

All religion is trash.

All religion is trash.

Edgy

Honestly, I think it's because society, in general, is slowly getting more vulgar and communities are starting to break down.

Most of the problems in the UK are down to a lack of religiosity.

Explain.

A lot of it was mentioned already. But, I really feel that people would be better off joining a house of worship. As I've mentioned before, a Church is not only a place of worship, but also a place of study and socialisation. I strongly believe that the dilution of religion in the UK has had a negative effect on society, and has exacerbated many problems, such as social isolation, depression, binge drinking, unstable households, etc.

That's why I feel that many people are unhappy, because they don't have a sense of identity. Religion influences culture, and gives people a unified sense of identity, which is what is lacking in the UK. A lot of people have negative opinions towards religion, and falsely claim that all religions are the same. When in reality they are not. Religion has brought so much good to this world, and has tremendously enriched the UK over the years.

Its also brought a heck of a lot of bad to the world.To mention a few it excaberated the Aids crisis by teaching that condoms were bad,then there is the crusades,the inquisition,the witch hunts,the thousands of gay people driven to suicide or death by the church,the vast covering up of child sex abuse by hundreds of paedophile priests;denying those same priests and all other priests the right to normal human love and interaction;Its refusal to condemn the nazis.It held back science back by hundreds of years because they wouldn't condone dissection of human bodies.Mother theresa denied pain relief to terminally ill patients because she believed that suffering brought you closer to Christ.There are many more examples.

Religion represents the very worst aspects of human nature.It represents superstition and blind faith without evidence.Those qualities should be discouraged heavily.What should be taught is critical thinking and logical reasoning.If more actually used their hands to help each other instead of uselessly clasping them together in prayer it would be a much nicer world.

There are parts of the Old Testament also feature Stoning, Homophobia, Misogyny etc

There is no place for any of that in the modern world.

No, you’re just cherry picking the bad things brought on through religion.

I could do the same with Atheism, and how millions of people were persecuted and killed under State Atheism, such as in the Soviet Union and in China.

If you use a set of scales to balance the bad and the good things of religion, then the good will always outweigh the bad. That’s why religion has made the UK better, and not worse.

“Religion represents the very worst aspects of human nature” - Not all religions are the same, so that’s a gross generalisation and cannot be attributed to all religions.

The argument against homosexuality and gay marriage is not only restricted to religion. There are plenty of Atheists who disagree with the two, and there are a number of Atheistic countries, such as China and Japan in which homosexuality and gay marriage are not accepted by the majority of the population. This is down to cultural reasons, and not based on religion itself. However, I personally believe that gay people should have equal access, and that there should be a separation of church and state on such matters.

That would be based on the assumption that people are naturally altruistic and have a desire to help others, which they don’t.

The two dominant religions actually teach their followers to give money towards charity, and even to this day, Christian charities are some of the largest contributors towards charitable causes throughout the world.

When determining if an ideology, policy, medicine, car, etc, is acceptable, we must consider the negatives before the positives.
A drug that alleviates a condition for 90% of sufferers but kills 10% will not be approved for use.

Not this old chesthut?
The millions of deaths under Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, etc, weren't because of "atheism". They were because of a political ideology. All those Chinese who died under the Great Leap Forward didn't die because of "atheism". They dies because Mao's plans to convert China from an agrarian to an industrial society was fundamentally flawed in both concept and execution.

How can you claim that religion "made the UK better"? If rationalism and liberal democracy had ben in place for the last 1000 years, the UK would very likely be a far better place than it is now. But neither of us can prove our claims, so it is pointless to make them.

However, if you are claiming that a system that dehumanises some, discriminates against others and oppresses those with a different outlook is better than a system that treats everyone as equals, regardless of what they believe, I would argue that you are wrong. And I would ask you to explain why you think your claim is true.

I think that it is true to say that any ideology that creates a "them and us" mindset and dehumanises the "them" does bring out the worst in human nature.
But it's not just religion. It is any ideology that promotes this.

There is no argument against homosexuality and same-sex marriage. I'm not sure about China but Japan has historically been accepting of homosexuality.

In fact proscription of homosexuality in a culture often coincides with the arrival of an Abrahamic religion.

Yes they are. Altruism and empathy were the foundation stones of the first cohesive communities. They are essential for them to operate effectively. We can observe them in primate species and even in more primitive species.
People only behave badly towards each other when they are given a reason to do it. The "them and us" of religious ideology is one of those reasons.

Charity that is an obligation is a tax or levy.
Charity given in order to gain reward or avoid punishment is self-interest.
It is only the atheist who can truly give charitably because they have absolutely nothing to gain other than the knowledge that they are helping those less fortunate. It is pure altruism - and there is no god telling them to do it!