A Muslim view from Khosrow Foroughi of Cranbury, N.J.: ''Jews and Muslims have their own calendars. Muslims have a lunar calendar reckoned from A.D. 622, the day after the Hegira, or flight of the Prophet Mohammed from Mecca to Medina. The Jewish calendar is also a lunar one and is the official calendar of the State of Israel. $(this year is 5757.$) The Christian or Gregorian calendar has become the second calendar in most non-Christian countries, and as this is the Christian calendar, I cannot see why 'before Christ' and 'in the year of our Lord' would be objectionable.'' Contrariwise, a leading student of Islam, John Esposito of Georgetown, said, '' 'Before the Common Era' is always more acceptable.''

I turned to Hershel Shanks, editor of the Biblical Archeology Review, who helped break the scholarly monopoly on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Two years ago, his journal put out a delightful paperback -- ''Cancel My Subscription!'' -- with a section of letters on this controversy. As a result, the magazine let authors have their individual choice and published a careful note on style: ''B.C.E. (before the Common Era) and C.E. (Common Era), used by some of our authors, are the alternative designations for B.C. and A.D. often used in scholarly literature.''

Shanks told me, ''it doesn't diminish the number of canceled subscriptions we get from people on both sides of the issue, but there are authors who will not allow their work to be printed unless they determine the time demarcation used.'' Evidently many think B.C.E./C.E. is religiously neutral; others hold that the change is silly because the count remains from the birth of Jesus Christ and confuses those who think the C stands for ''Christ'' and not ''Common.''

Here's my take: I'll stick with B.C. because Christ, in American usage, refers directly to Jesus of Nazareth as if it were his last name and not a title conferring Messiah-hood. For non-Christians to knock themselves out avoiding the word Christ, when it so clearly refers to a person from whose birth we date our secular calendar's count, seems unduly strained and almost intolerant. (If you're a tiny bit uncomfortable, just drop the periods and make it BC.)

A.D. is another story. Dominus means ''lord,'' and when the lord referred to is Jesus, not God, a religious statement is made. Thus, ''the year of our Lord'' invites the query ''Whose lord?'' and we're in an argument we don't need.

Besides, if the year is not B.C., who needs a demarcation of the year? If you're writing about the birth of Jesus, write ''4 B.C.''; if you're writing about the year that B.C.E. was first used by Lady Katie Magnus, write ''1881'' without emendation.

I'm for giving John Glenn, at 75, his wish to go to the moon, provided he takes an eraser and gets to work on that plaque.