The Monsters and Critics website reports today (January 17, 2012) that Germany's Tuebingen University -- a public university where tuition is free -- opened the first university department of Islamic theology in Germany yesterday (January 16), with 36 students enrolled for bachelor's degrees.
The government of Chancellor Angela Merkel faced resistance from conservatives to funding the department, but argued that graduates would be the best antidote to self-taught "hate preachers."
Education Minister Annette Schavan -- herself a graduate in Catholic theology -- said the school was a "milestone for integration" of Muslims who make up 5 percent of Germany's population.
The three professors -- who will be teaching in the department -- had to satisfy an Islamic advisory council that they are devout Muslims.
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