SOUTH DAKOTA – In an effort to counter misconceptions about the faith, Presentation College in South Dakota, Minnesota, will offer a course on Islam that aims to bust any myths about the religion while welcoming debates.

“The amount of misunderstanding about Islam and Muslims that we see in our culture and our world today, education becomes especially important as a way of nurturing not only accurate knowledge of what Islam is, but also as a means of fostering worthwhile, meaningful and civil dialogue,” John Anderson, the professor who will teach the course, told ABC News on Monday, July 26.

The new course is offered by the humanities department which usually offers brief but insightful lectures on the many different faiths around the world.

The idea of the course came to challenge any falsehoods about the religion and offer in-depth study about the faith.

“It has that historical piece, but it’s also historical, theological, social and cultural so it’s really this nice mix,” said Dr. Naomi Ludeeman Smith, the school’s Department Chair for Arts & Science.

Opened for registration this fall, the course will also tackle Islamophobia, one problem that Professor Anderson says is rampant in our culture.

He said he hopes the course will give students a better understanding of the world and hopefully a better understanding of themselves.

“The relevance and value of a class like this I don’t think can be overstated, simply turning on the news each day makes us abundantly aware of questions related to Islam are really front and center in our world today,” says Anderson.

A recent report found that more than 70 groups in the US were contributing to some extent to propagating Islamophobia.

Released by CAIR and the University of California Berkeley’s Centre for Race and Gender, the report said 33 of those groups have a primary purpose of “promot[ing] prejudice against, or hatred of, Islam and Muslims”.

“Do we anticipate conflict in the course, questions asked that are uncomfortable?” asks Dr. Ludeman Smith.

“I hope that happens in every course. That’s when students have to rise to the highest occasion emotionally, intellectually, socially. And it’s a great place to practice.”