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While Arizona is passing controversial immigration laws to keep illegal immigrants out(read "Mexicans") the bigger problem is the slackers at home. If Americans(especially the poorer average African American) were willing to do the back breaking and manual labour jobs the immigrants are providing, they would be no immigration. The Mexicans and the Hispanics in general will pick fruit and work on farms in the searing heat for hours for meagre pay. And on that meagre wage still find spare change to send back home to their families accounting for huge capital inflows to their home nations. Businesses can't help but prefer to hire them than the average American Joe the plumber, some would say it's an exercise in exploitation.

The lack of tangible evidence of things to come but none the less the requirement to struggle on is what defines faith. Unfortunately, the unknown breeds fear and self interest all too often, which is why we need to be focussed on love consistently. It comes as no surprise, Jesus's message was primarily about love. The bible is very clear on how things can go wrong in the absence of love-refer to the Pharisees. There're many Christians, I included, who grapple with the workings and demands of faith. How can we embrace the intangible, the unknown without losing confidence, without becoming afraid?Many Africans face this challenge. Will I leave Egypt , or indeed the wilderness so harsh, but a known quantity for the yet unknown promised land Canaan? We Africans are big on tradition. We are hot-wired to hold on to what we know at all cost. We are inherently for the tried and tested, afraid of the new. The wheel turns slowly in these parts.

Just wanted to share an article in the BBC about the character and paradox of faith in Africa.BBC News - Africa goes to church, the mosque and the witch doctorIn his cramped hut at the end of an alleyway in the coastal Tanzanian town of Bagamoyo, traditional healer Dr Msilo treats patients with a variety of mental and physical problems.To locals, he is known as a witch doctor, and his treatments involve casting out evil spirits, as well as administering traditional potions.People are keen to seek out his services, regardless of their religious affiliation."God provides medicine for all people - Muslims, Christians and pagans," he says."They all know that the trees were given by God, and He gave some people the power to heal."The continuing devotion of many Africans to elements of traditional belief is well known.But Dr Msilo is just one example of a key trend identified in a major new study of African faith.The Pew Forum interviewed more than 25,000 people in 19 sub-Saharan countries a

We live in the age where more and more scientologists than scientists are being churned out from education. And no, strictly speaking I am not referring to the church of Scientology per se, even they believe in some things that a scientist may find.....ahem...... outlandish comes to mind. For example, a human being "an immortal alien spiritual being, termed a thetan, that is trapped on planet Earth in a physical body" , puts Jesus Christ's resurrection in a new light! I mean that more and more "scientists" who believe in science as a religion, belief, an end in itself, rather than science as a methodology to get to the truth, a means to an end. From antiquity, there was always an artificial divide, suspicion, mistrust between faith and religion. There was an perception that one could not be a scientist and religious at the same time, in other words, you could not serve both masters, you had to choose one.