Do universities matter?

Peter Steinfels wrote, a few weeks ago in the New York Times, that universities might "matter" less today precisely because they compromised or abandoned their religious character and roots.  Here is Rod Dreher's post on the column (which also excerpts the column heavily, in case the Times cuts off access).  Here is a quote from the Steinfels column:

Having made natural science's standards for the exploration of physical reality the model of all true knowledge, that secularism, in the author's view, has simply not been able to replace religion in giving plausible answers to questions about the natur of humanity, its distinctinveness from other life forms, the value and goals of a life or the basis of morality.