I was a kid when Rudolph came on the scene as Santa's ninth reindeer. Actually, Rudolph had already been a storybook character for several years, but he became a major phenomenon in 1949, when Gene Autry recorded the musical version of Rudolph's story. Millions of copies of the cowboy singer's...

When I decided to explore the subject of civility two decades ago, I was especially concerned about the ways in which religious convictions seemed to be at the root of much of the mean-spiritedness in the world. There were growing tensions at the time -- soon to be vicious warfare...