Professor calls for Christian university to be built in Scotland

A professor in Scotland believes that having a Christian university in the country would be beneficial.

"A Christian university would teach and research within the pre-suppositional framework of a Christian world view," said Professor James Fraser, CBE, as quoted by Herald Scotland. "It would welcome people of all faiths and none to its student body."

According to the report, there are no religion-based universities in Scotland, and educational institutions currently have a "radical secularist" viewpoint. Thus, Fraser deems that having an academic institution that offers teaching and research from a Christian point of view would provide Scottish students with more options. He is reportedly thinking of a Christian university akin to those in the United States, one that would welcome all students of all faiths and no faith.

"All teaching and research is shaped by the values of the institution and its staff; and today in most Scottish universities the values framework is derived from a radical secularist world view," he said, speaking during the Free Church general assembly. "The secular world view is by no means universally accepted by the people of Scotland. We need to serve Scotland better by giving people greater choice."

Fraser urged the church to consider being the first to establish such in Scotland. He suggested that it could start with its Edinburgh seminary as it has already partnered with the University of Glasgow in providing university level courses. His vision is to have a Christian university that has "excellent and quality courses delivered to a standard of excellence that would attract both Christian and non-Christian students." He did say that funding such an endeavor would be a "formidable task," thus he is calling for the government to reconsider the current financial scheme for universities.

"The Scottish Government should rethink the financing of Universities to enable a more pluralist system," Fraser said. "Scotland has some of the most excellent universities in the world but needs to offer more variety and greater competition."

He is also reportedly calling on a debate to prevent the secularism of Scottish children through education and media because "if we continue to lose them we will have no future whatsoever as an institution."

He said, "If we fail to do this we fail our generation fundamentally and we capitulate to secularism."

Fraser was a former principal at the University of the Highlands and Islands and is chair of the Board of Trustees of the Free Kirk/Free Church of Scotland.