Complex sentence: When the first London University was established in 1828, the institution, Scottish in curriculum and teaching, was non-denominational and, given the intense religious rivalries at the time, there was an outcry against the "godless" university.
Split into simpler sentences: When the first "London University" was established in 1828, the institution, Scottish in curriculum and teaching, was non-denominational. As such, given the intense religious rivalries at the time, there was an outcry against the "godless" university.