Last night’s episode of NOW with Bill Moyers was the last in which he will appear.  After 33 years of broadcast television work, he is leaving the airwaves to spend more time with his wife of 50 years and to make some room to write.  Bill Moyers has proven to be an instrumental agent of intelligent research and reporting.  He has taken the current administration to task countless times by exposing their wrongdoings, their irresponsibilities, and their downright lies.  Never one to shy away from confrontation, Mr. Moyers always spoke directly with the staunchest conservatives that believe in a way of life that is anathema to his own but always treated them with the respect that any human deserves.  Bill Moyers is a class act in the often classless world of journalism.

Personally, Bill Moyers, much like Tavis Smiley, made an impact on me only in my most recent years, especially in a religious sense.  Bill Moyers, an ordained Baptist minister, always managed to temper his religious leanings with common sense and intelligence.  He has always been able to participate in religious discourse with the most overly-zealous religious conservative and hold the line with his Biblical knowledge without using the Bible as the be-all, end-all.  This is what I love about this man and this is what I learned most from him; the ability to stand on religious ground while remaining conversational, grounded, and knowledgeable.  This is a skill I have yet to hone, but I am eternally grateful for his leading example.

This past Friday’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross features an excellent compilation of three interviews with Bill Moyers recorded over the last decade or so.  Do yourself a favor and give it a listen.  It will the the most informative and intelligent 45 minutes of radio you’ve heard in a while.

With this quote I leave my final farewell:

“I never felt comfortable doing that (preaching)…I actually intended to teach…I wanted to look at religion as a phenomenon in American life.”

Thank you, Bill Moyers, for your intelligence, your eloquence, and your undying love for democracy.