Berlin - Muslim leaders met with German government officials on Thursday for a third round of talks designed to improve the integration of their community in Germany. The conference was expected to decide on the introduction of free Islam classes for Muslims in German public schools.
"We have freedom of religion. That means there is equality and as a result of this it is possible to introduce religious instruction for Islam," Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said.
One of the conditions for this is that Muslims in Germany organize themselves as a religious community under Germany's religious incorporation laws, said Schaeuble, who is hosting the conference.
The Islam conference first met in September 2006 and again in May 2007. Thursday's session reviewed proposals by four working groups related to Germany's 3.5 million Muslims, half of them Turks.
Schaeuble hopes that introducing Islam classes at schools will help prevent a radicalization of young Muslims.
He told the online edition of the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper that such classes could lead to a change in the way Islam is propagated in mosques in Germany.
A spokesman for the Coordination Council for Muslims in Germany, Bekir Alboga, called the introduction of Islam classes "a big step forward."
Five figures representing mosques and 10 secular Muslims speak for the Muslim community at the conference, which also comprises 15 members of the German government and state institutions.
