Excerpt:
Education Minister Annette Schavan has defended the controversial policy of introducing lessons about Islam into German school classes, saying they aided integration.
She said learning lessons about Islam had been very constructive in schools, leading to better understanding between Muslim and non-Muslim students.
"Of course I know about the fears of many Germans in connection with this topic," she told Focus magazine. "But I see it as experienced religious freedom, as a dialogue between Christianity and Islam."