Teaching religion in HE

In their series Academics Anonymous, The Guardian today published an article by a Russell group university 'senior academic in a religion department' who feels their authority in the class room and the environment of critical engagement with religious ideas is being undermined by the presence of a majority of evangelical Christian students. Not wanting to qualify the author's distress, I can gladly say that my experiences so far have by and large been different (with a few notable exceptions). Having said that, I do feel the authors raises the worrying issue of cultural and social homogeneity on UK campuses. While the rise of tuition fees and the partial privatisation of student loans no doubt affect faculties across the board, the critical and secular engagement with religious traditions and their presence and influence in public life in particular suffers from the lack of a broad variety of students from all walks of life, social and cultural backgrounds, and (non-) beliefs, which gives rise to a complacent and matter-of-fact atmosphere in a filter bubble unsuited for uncomfortable questions and agile, critical minds.