Islamic studies students laugh off criticism

"Do I look like a terrorist to you?" asks Yiannis, laughing. He had no facial hair, just an earring in his right ear. He looked like a happy teenager, full of life and a deep thirst for learning. The same was true for Athanasia, a cheerful blond sitting next to him.

Yiannis Palamidis and Athanasia Avramoglou are students in the new Undergraduate Program of Islamic Studies at the Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the first of its kind in Greece, which was launched - amid fierce criticism from the ecclesiastical world - this academic year.

Together with 25 other young people, they comprise the first batch of students to enter the program which opponents call a "breeding ground for Islamic extremism," where the theology of Quranic Islam, the traditions and its schools are taught in a scientific way and with a critical approach. Elements of...