TV is great at serving up drama. And there was human drama aplenty in the legal battle over whether a feeding tube should be removed from Terry Schiavo. The Florida woman, diagnosed as brain-damaged, passed on Thursday morning.

It was a painful spectacle. Fortunately, Terry Schiavo, confined to a hospital bed for 15 years, did not have to watch her relatives battling each other in the courts and on the airwaves as she lay dying.

Much of the wall-to-wall coverage on cable TV was over the top. Hours of airtime were filled with dramatic reporters interviewing – and re-interviewing --- anyone with even a tangential connection to the case and speculating about how long Ms. Schiavo might survive without a feeding tube.

But Terry Schiavo’s saga also triggered nationwide consideration of the complex moral issues surrounding end of life care and the role of faith in American life.

And in the examination of the role of faith, last Sunday’s ‘Meet the Press” was a singular broadcast achievement, one I would urge you to review both for its inspiring and thought provoking content and as an illustration of what TV at its very best can accomplish. A transcript of the broadcast is available at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7284978.

For a full hour, host Tim Russert and his guests engaged in an insightful, highly articulate, and profoundly thought-provoking discussion titled “Faith in America.”

Unlike many TV programs which serve up complex issues as having just two sides, last Sunday’s Meet the Press program offered up a fairly widely range of viewpoints including:

* Reza Aslan, Muslim author of “No God but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam”
* Jesuit priest Robert Drinan, a professor of law at Georgetown University
* Dr. Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention
* Rev. Jim Wallis, author of “God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t get it”
* Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the first Jewish candidate for vice president

It was refreshing to see the discussion of controversial issues without panelists resorting to verbal mudslinging or disparagement or obvious attempts at scoring debating points.

It is hard to overstate the impact of the respectful yet probing questioning by host Tim Russert who came to this discussion – as he does every Sunday’s broadcast – awesomely prepared.

Russert and his producers treated the audience as being composed of individuals who would be interested in matters of faith without having to use the hook of drama.

And, perhaps most striking, Russert dealt with religion not just as a force that motivates voters politically. He also posed questions about the nature of God and His care for us.

At the end of the discussion Russert said: "I wish we had two more hours.”

To which I would add: Amen.