Tuesday, December 08, 2015

Talat Strokirk, Pakistani-Swede, former Muslim

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Of all the segments I’ve watched on Journey Home (EWTN), this is one of the most interesting given the struggles today between Muslims and Christians.  Talat Strokirk has lived all over the world, but now lives in Sweden and is married to a Swede.  She was born in pre-partition India and her Muslim family became citizens of Pakistan.  Although she speaks very lovingly of her devout Muslim parents, they had a number of serious breaks in their relationship—when she became baptized, and when she decided to marry a foreigner.

But it also shows the importance of Christian missionary schools, as she was educated in several countries by Catholic nuns, although with no pressure to participate in Christian activities or worship.  She said her Muslim father approved of the Catholic schools because, “the nuns dressed modestly and followed a good moral code.” She also said that leaving home (around 1960) to take refuge in a convent (after her baptism) was unusual in that day, but today would be almost impossible. Her parents were embarrassed in their community by a Christian daughter, and her mother said she would have preferred she had come home with a child (from England where she had studied) rather than as a baptized Christian.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0iXAXXxQvY

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