Rogers State University Public Television is hosting a one-hour live call-in show, “Prayer in Green Country,” at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 24.
The live show follows the broadcast of the two-part nationally-acclaimed series “Prayer in America.” Part one will air at 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 22 and the second part of the series will air at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 23.
The two-part documentary explores contemporary debates about the role of prayer through the lens of history.
By asking rhetorically, “How did we get here?” the show examines the ways in which prayer has contributed to and continues to shape the American experience.
The multi-faith, multi-faceted documentary on prayer delves into controversial issues such as the school prayer debate, the role of prayer in health and healing, and prayer practices in America’s prison system. “Prayer in America” also covers prayer during slavery, the role of prayer in social movements including the prayer life of Cesar Chavez, and the often-unifying quality of prayer during times of crisis and tragedy.
The roundtable live call-in show will be hosted by Dr. James Ford, RSU religion and philosophy professor. His guests include Rev. Marlin Lavanhar with All Souls Unitarian Church and Pastor Deron Spoo with First Baptist in Tulsa, Radwan Kouatli from Islamic Society of Tulsa.
Ford received doctoral and master’s degrees in religion from Princeton University, and a bachelor’s degree in religion and philosophy from the University of Tulsa.
“I look forward to hearing from people of all religious and non-religious backgrounds,” Ford said. “In communities, the role of prayer is often taken for granted in both positive and negative ways.”
“Prayer is part of so many people’s lives, but there is often not a lot of discussion about it. Thursday night we have the opportunity to have an inter-faith dialogue about it.”
The station, based on RSU’s Claremore campus, reaches about 1.2 million people within a 75-mile radius of the campus and is Oklahoma’s only full-powered television station operated by a public university.
RSU Public Television, which can be found on UHF channel 35, Cox cable channel 19 and satellite channel 35.