* Timothy George and Al Mohler have it right: either we in the Southern Baptist Convention must return to our roots in Reformed theology, or our denomination will become just another irrelevant mainline group ["Passing the Southern Baptist Torch," May 15]. Process theology, extreme Arminianism, and business as usual will doom us.

- Charley Buntin

Mayfield, Ky.

* I found the article "Black Southern Baptists" [May 15] interesting. I grew up in southern California in an area where no one cared that Bing Lum was Chinese, James Armstrong was black, Rosendo Limon was Mexican, Manuel Mejia was Chicano, or I was white. Individuals were judged individually, not on the phony basis of "race."

Also, for a year in Dallas I was a member of a black Southern Baptist church. I joined it for the same reason I've joined every other church I've been a member of. I was convinced that becoming a member of Second Chapel Baptist Church was what God wanted me to do.

That church never did pay attention to my color. I can't speak for all white Southern Baptists or for all black Southern Baptists. But if my interaction with Second Chapel Baptist Church of Garland, Texas, is any indication, "racism" in the Southern Baptist Convention is on its way out.

- Robert McKay

Marlow, Okla.

FROM MELTING POT TO SALAD BOWL

As an immigrant from Korea, I agreed with many of the points raised in Tim Stafford's "Here Comes the World" [May 15]. It dealt with many of the serious misconceptions held by Americans whose ancestors came earlier. I would take exception to the view that the melting-pot immigration policy could or should reach the boiling point. The continued existence of organizations of hyphenated Americans reflects the inability of America to be a melting pot. It ...