A lecturer has accused his former university of “bringing back blasphemy as a crime” after he was dismissed for criticising funding for a religious centre.

Atheist Dr Chris Hill was investigated by senior staff at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) after sending an email defending his right to express his "antipathy" to faiths and later arguing with a student that the university's faith centre’s £1 million funding would better spend on the maths department.

The university later dismissed him for gross misconduct saying he had “acted in a way that could be considered a hate crime”.

The engineering lecturer said: “The university has effectively reintroduced blasphemy as a crime on campus.

“In my view, critical thinking about religion is an essential part of democratic and academic life.”

Dr Hill, who was dismissed in July, said he decided to speak out after a 19-year-old student and UKIP member, Sebastian Walsh, was suspended from UCLan earlier this month for a “series of offensive and inappropriate comments” during lectures and seminars about the “Islamisation” of Britain and halal meat.

Dr Hill was initially suspended at the university in February last year after emailing its student union in response to a public notice about "hate speech". In it he argued "faith is not something to be admired", labelled religious beliefs "nonsense" and said he was legally allowed to express "dislike" and "antipathy" to faith.