LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: FIRESTORM OVER MALIBU; RUSHDIE IN WASHINGTON

To the Editor:

Rushdie is a tragic fiture. He is an Indian, who, perhaps, sneaked into England illegally, as nowadays millions do. Having learned enought English, Rushdie stat down and wrote The Satanic Verses, a book, the mulahs (Islamic clergy), maintain slanders their prophet Mohammed, the Koran and, yes, the whole of Islam. That arroused Ayatollah Khomeini's ire and he sentenced Rushdie in absentia unceremoniously to die. And while the sword of Islam is long and two-edged, he made the right move by scrambling into hiding. But then, why should one malign or persecute people of another religion? Christians know a psalm to sing of borthers and sisters thrown to the lions; about bloody persecution in the dark ages, and under Communism up to the slanderous film against the Lord: The Last Temptation of Christ, which Universal Pictures released not too long ago. When comparing the Satanic Verses with the Temptation, which some people undertook, they found the Verses boring and not offensive enough to warrant a death sentence. By the same token, The Last Temptation of Christ is a loathsome attack on Christianity, sewage seeping from filthy Christ-hating minds of writers and producers at Hollywood's Universal Pictures. In the film, they had the mother of Jesus say, "Forgive my son! He is crazy! He does not know what he is doing." In another scene of the film, John the Baptist kises Jesus on the lips, to which Jesus replies, "His tongue felt like a burning coal in my mouth." Or Jesus is saying: "I am a liar. I am afraid of everything. Lucifer is inside me." And there are more of those insults.

Islam demands Rusdie's head. What will the Christian world do to avenge Jesus?

A plan was already in the making (as I saw it), in unison between heaven and nature: In California's sun-parched land, a storm arose, and at the same moment a fire sprang from the deep gorges and ravines and raced up the mountains all around and a reporter cried, "The fire is racing toward Malibu where scores of Hollywood celebrities live in houses worth much more than a million." rom then on, electrified, I did not take my eyes from the TV and I saw storm and fire doing their destructive work. Fireballs were sailing through the air and crashing down on the expensive houses, many virtually exploding in spite of the valiant attempts of the firefighters to save them. There was thundering fire all around and I felt compassion in my heart after thousands of homes lay smoldering in their ashes. As if on a sign, wind and fire ceased. Then the cry of the reporter came to my mind: "The fire is racing toward Malibu where scores of celebrities live." Did any of these work on The Last Temptation of Christ" Were the producers and screenwriters there feeling the heat? I will not pass judgment, but the moment in which that happened was so overwhelming, I humbled myself and kept silent. My thought, in conclusion, however, was: "Don't be decived. God is not mocked." And that goes for all of us.

HERBERT HIRSCHFELD

Cape Girardeau

P.S. It think the mullahs should let Rushdie go.