1.What is the Mission of University? Is it cultivation of the intellect so that it can reach the truth? Is it research and teaching? Is the mission of the University pragmatic or mechanical that is limited only to the production of professionals without being concerned with the transcendental?
2. Should the University limit itself only to intellectual formation without concerning itself with the moral and religious formation of the Students or should the University be also concerned with the moral and religious formation of the Students?
3. In view of the increasing fragmentation of knowledge in the Universities today, should Students studying scientific disciplines -physics, medicine, biology, chemistry etc- also study ethics and should Students studying ethics also study sciences in order to ensure effective dialogue between them?
4. Should Theology be taught in every University?

On the Mission of University.

Newman stated:" "I say, a University, taken in its bare idea, ...has this object and this mission; it contemplates neither moral impression nor mechanical production; it professes to exercise the mind neither in art nor in duty; its function is intellectual culture; here it may leave its scholars, and it has done its work when it has done as much as this. It educates the intellect to reason well in all matters, to reach out towards truth, and to grasp it." (J. H. Newman, The Idea of a University (Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1982 ), pp. 94-95.
The research aims at answering the question: What is the mission of University? My answer to this question is: University should enable its students to cultivate the intellect so that it can search for truth. For the University to realize this mission it should help its Students cultivate the habit of searching for truth.
This habit can only be cultivated when the intellect has been formed to love to search for truth. The search for truth is inherent in the human intellect. Thus Aristotle stated:"..the attainment of truth is the task of both the intellectual parts of the soul; so their respective virtues are the states that will best enable them to arrive at the truth."( Aristotle, Ethics, (London: Penguin Group, 1955), Bk. Six, 1139b2-18. ) In order to cultivate the intellect so that it can attain the truth, cultivation of intellectual and moral virtues are indispensable. Writing on the five modes of thought or states of mind by which truth is reached Aristotle stated that there are five ways in which the soul arrives at truth by affirmation or denial, namely art,(techne) science,(episteme) prudence or practical wisdom(phronesis) wisdom,(sophia) and intuition or intelligence (nous) (Cf. Ibid).
However, University should not furnish the Students only with partial truth which is found in sciences. It should assist them to attain integral truth which can only be obtained when the Students are given integral education. Integral education means inter alia that besides teaching the students sciences, the University should provide the students the opportunity to study Theology. Therefore, theology should be taught in every University so that the Students can discover the integral truth. Pope John Paul II wrote:"It is the nature of the human being to seek the truth. This search looks not only to the attainment of truths which are partial, empirical or scientific; nor is it only in individual acts of decision-making that people seek the true good. Their search looks towards an ulterior truth which would explain the meaning of life. And it is therefore a search which can reach its end only in reaching the absolute. Thanks to the inherent capacities of thought, man is able to encounter and recognize a truth of this kind." (Pope John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, par. 33) Continuing he wrote:"... truth, which God reveals to us in Jesus Christ, is not opposed to the truths which philosophy perceives. On the contrary, the two modes of knowledge lead to truth in all its fullness. The unity of truth is a fundamental premise of human reasoning, as the principle of non-contradiction makes clear. Revelation renders this unity certain, showing that the God of creation is also the God of salvation history. It is the one and the same God who establishes and guarantees the intelligibility and reasonableness of the natural order of things upon which scientists confidently depend, and who reveals himself as the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This unity of truth, natural and revealed, is embodied in a living and personal way in Christ, as the Apostle reminds us: 'Truth is in Jesus' (cf. Eph 4:21; Col 1: 15-20). He is the eternal Word in whom all things were created, and he is the incarnate Word who in his entire person reveals the Father (cf. Jn 1:14, 18). What human reason seeks 'without knowing it' (cf. Acts 17:23) can be found only through Christ: what is revealed in him is 'the full truth' (cf. Jn 1:14-16) of everything which was created in him and through him and which therefore in him finds its fulfilment (cf. Col 1:17)." (Ibid., no. 34.)

A legal Case for the Chair of theology in every State and secular University


From legal point of view, a chair of Theology in every University whether State, private, secular or religious is a right of the Students and is therefore legally justified.
The legal basis for such a position is the right of every individual to religious freedom and consequently to educational pluralism within State owned University. Since in all secular Universities, exist students of diverse religious belief, it is the right of those Students to have in the University curriculum a provision made for Theology. The State cannot under the pretext or ensuring respect for "religious freedom" argue that in accordance with the principle of separation of State from Religion or of secularity of State that Theology cannot be taught in State University. To argue in this way and to maintain the status quo-that is excluding Theology from University curriculum on this grounds- is to denying the Students of diverse religious beliefs who attend State Universities the right to the exercise of their religious freedom and consequently their to integral education.
Maintaining the principle of secular State or separation of State from Religion does not mean elimination of Theology from University curriculum. When rightly applied, this principle means the introduction of Theology in University curriculum and respecting freedom of the Students to choose either to attend or not to attend such course. But there must exist Theological discipline for students to make such choice. If the State University opts for total exclusion of Theology within its curriculum, it has chosen for the Students of diverse religious beliefs who attend its University -a decision which only such Students in accordance with their right to religious freedom have the right to make.
Moreover, the introduction of Theology within the University Curriculum, does not violate the right to religious freedom ( better stated in this context as right to belief) of atheists since they are free both not to register and not to attend any course on Theology or to do so. But the complete exclusion of Theology from State, secular and private Universities is a clear violation of right to religious freedom of students professing various religions.
It is my contention that the status quo -the exclusion of Theology in some State, secular and private Universities - although apparently seems to respect religious freedom