To the Editors:

President Carter did an excellent job at the Camp David summit [Oct. 2] getting Sadat and Begin to bargain. It is now up to the Arab and Israeli worlds to accept the agreement, to make it work and to keep peace throughout the Middle East. James Palmer Philadelphia

Public opinion polls now say that a great number of people think Jimmy Carter has finally found it. Some of us never thought he lost it.

Ann H. Hadfield

Perkasie, Pa.

My advice for President Carter: Damn the polls! Full speed ahead!

Russ Burkhard

Annandale, Va.

Carter used a lot of his own energy in an attempt to keep the energy of his country flowing. In so doing he will enter the history books as having achieved one of two things: either the termination of a 30-year-old war or the destruction of a 30-year-old nation.

Paul R. Willett

London

Three cheers for President Carter, whose expert statesmanship has made peace in the Middle East attainable. Now he had better start solving some domestic problems. Inflation and the declining dollar affect every American citizen. The President will have to handle these issues with the same expertise he demonstrated at the summit talks.

J.R. Baker III

West Chester, Pa.

Heat over Energy

Congratulations on the laser quality of Peter Stoler's Essay, "The Irrational Fight Against Nuclear Power" [Sept. 25].

Catching rays and tilting at windmills won't take us into the 21st century; nuclear power will.

Christine Lenihan

Oak Ridge, Tenn.

As a nuclear physicist trained in the '50s, I have been appalled at the low level on which the nuclear energy debate has been conducted. When dozens of workers are killed in an oil refinery explosion, no one suggests that we abandon the use of fossil fuels. When a water pipe in a nuclear reactor develops a hairline fracture, hysteria follows. Nuclear reactor safety is a highly quantitative and technical matter. It is high time that responsible journalism calls for rational discourse.

James C. Carter, S.J., President

Loyola University

New Orleans

Words, words, words! It's so terribly sad that nothing less than a disaster will awaken the Peter Stolers of this world to the incredible dangers of nuclear power.

Patricia McClelland

Denver

Stoler depicts an America that must have nuclear power to satisfy the cravings of an industrialized, electrified society. The young opponents of nuclear power, by contrast, envision a future America in which energy production is decentralized, suited to specific needs. No one denies that we require energy to have a functioning society. The real question is: According to what vision of life?

David W. Harris

Corvallis, Ore.

Grants to Guerrillas

It is to be hoped that cries of moral outrage will emanate from all parts of the world in protest against the World Council of Churches' latest investment in lawless terrorism and murder, its grant to the Patriotic Front in Rhodesia [Oct. 2]. Unless W.C.C. member churches protest loudly or withdraw their support, or both, what is to deter the council from continuing such irresponsible gifts to left-wing guerrilla organizations in the future?

Joseph M. Hopkins

New Wilmington, Pa.

The quotation "We can't help it if the missionaries get killed" under the picture of World Council of Churches General Secretary Philip Potter gives a very strong impression that this callous remark was made by him, rather than by a guerrilla commander.

Nelda Wood Pittsburgh

Pleasure Drives

Three cheers for the prostitutes [Oct. 2]! When will the lawmakers of this country realize that crimes of violence result directly from repression of the pleasure drives? The obvious solution is to leave the ladies to their trade and let the puritans leave the rest to God. Perhaps then the cops can do what they're paid to do instead of harassing innocent people.

Seymour Barnsworth

Santa Clara, Calif.

Happy and Gifted

For 62 years I have been the spiritual leader of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles. Among our large congregation have been many comedians. Jack Benny and Eddie Cantor were members until their death.

I haven't discovered that the comedy in most Jewish comedians [Oct. 2] is the result of "a defense mechanism to ward off the aggression and hostility of others." Nor are they "ambivalent about their Jewishness and compulsively turn to humor to ward off their private demons." The majority of them just happen to be very normal people who are gifted with wit and a natural sense of humor. They are marvelous storytellers.

Rabbi Edgar F. Magnin

Los Angeles

A comedian who makes more than $100,000 a year might not be happy, but I am willing to bet he is laughing all the way to the bank.

Susan Schneider

Lincolnwood, Ill.

While I cannot argue about the unusually large number of Jewish comedians in relation to their percentage of the population, I do think there is one point that you overlooked completely: the total lack of any humor in the Christian religions. Naturally those who are exposed to less merriment will be less likely to pursue a career in comedy.

Morris Green

Louisville

The Shepherd and the Psalm

The staging of Bible material, like Alec McCowen's recital of the Gospel of St. Mark [Sept. 18], can have unexpected results. An actor had delivered the 23rd Psalm before an enthralled audience. Days later he heard an old rector read it in church. "The Lord is my Shepherd ..." After the service he grasped the rector's hand with the words, "Sir, I know the Psalm, but you know the Shepherd."

(The Rev.) Wynne Jones Cork,

Eire

Free the Thousands

All the reasons given in support of Patty Hearst's pardon [Oct. 2] make sense, not only for her, but for thousands of others in jail who did not choose the backgrounds, events and circumstances that were a prelude to the crimes of which they were convicted and for which our legal system decided to hold them responsible. By all means, free Patty. But then free the others too.

Dorothy Barnhouse

San Francisco

Patty Hearst is in jail because she is the daughter of a wealthy man.

Richard W. Kelly

Allentown, Pa.

Too Tough?

I commend you for giving recognition to the equestrian Three-Day World Championships [Oct. 2] and to a sport that has been in the background for years but is growing in popularity. H?wever, I find it appalling that this phase of competition causes the death or near death of horses. It is time changes occurred to allow horses to remain healthy and still bring honor to the U.S.

Constance Budge

Annandale, Va.

CENTO, the Bath

Please don't give up on CENTO, the Central Treaty Organization [Sept. 18], just because the dictionary definition of "cento" is "a patchwork of incongruous parts." Actually, the word has another meaning in Japanese: "a public bath," where people share the feeling of togetherness in a very natural way. Isn't that one of the most desirable connotations for such an alliance?

Yoshihito Shimada

Tokyo

United Crowndom

The city of Woonsocket's quick abandonment of the term personhole for manhole [Oct. 2] gives hope that the United Kingdom can avoid the temptation to change its designation periodically to United Queendom or permanently to United Crowndom.

John F. Elsbree

Brighton, Mass.

The Charmer

I totally missed the connection between Roger Gicquel and Walter Cronkite in your uncritical portrait of the French TV anchorman [Sept. 25]. I never noticed any pompous morbidity or any Christ complex in Cronkite. The old man is a charmer because there are wisdom and warmth in his restraint. Besides, he has a quiet sense of humor that his younger imitator lacks. As a Frenchman I feel I deserve better than Roger Gicquel.

Philippe Michelot

Clermont-Ferrand, France

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