Laminin

Laminin is a protein that acts like a glue to hold our body cells together. As shown in the following diagram, it occurs in the basal lamina which lies between the epithelial layer and the stroma, bonding them together:

If we zoom in on the basal lamina we can see it is composed of four different proteins: enactin, perlecan, collagen, and laminin. In this next diagram the laminin is shown in blue. As you can see, it is a flexible protein (like a piece of string) and it's shape can vary depending on its location. It could be stretched out, folded over, or even scrunched up into a ball.

The flexible nature of laminin is made clear in these photos (taken with a microscope) which show the protein taking on many different shapes:

 

Even under the microscope, however, not all of the details are immediately obvious so the biologists have produced diagrams of the laminin protein to make it easier for students to understand what it is and how it works. Here is one such diagram

 

In real life, of course, the laminin doesn't look much like the diagram at all. In this diagram it seems to be a stiff, two-dimensional figure shaped like a cross, but under the microscope we can see that it is a flexible three-dimensional protein that can assume a wide variety of different shapes.

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But look what happened a few years ago when fundamentalist Christians first saw the diagram. They completely ignored the flexibility and three-dimensional nature of laminin and focused solely upon the diagram where it was depicted as a cross. A cross like the one upon which Jesus was crucified! 

In the world of the fundamentalist that could not be a mere coincidence; it had to be a sign from god.

Probably the excitement would have ebbed away if that was all they had, but then a devout Christian noted that laminin is the "glue" that holds body cells together - and blow me down if there wasn't a bible verse that said practically the same thing:

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  

(Colossians 1:17)

That was all they needed. Within the space of a few days nearly every fundamentalist on the planet was going into raptures about the miraculous cross-shaped glue that holds people together. It was god's message to all mankind, they said - and there was no doubting it, because Saint Paul had talked about it 2,000 years ago in his letter to the Colossians. Jesus (who died on the CROSS) is the glue that holds all things together said Paul. And laminin (the glue that holds our body cells together) is shaped like a CROSS. Halelujah praise the Lord. The message couldn't be any clearer.

We can get a taste of the emotional razamatazz that surrounded the story if we take a look at this video where Louie Giglio almost tearfully spins the laminin story to an audience of gullible Christians. Listen to their gasps of amazement as the story unfolds and be astonished that 21st century human beings can be so bloody stupid. My favourite bit comes at the 3'30" mark where the mugs in the pews actually cheer and applaud when the diagram is revealed. It would be like me drawing a stick-figure picture of a man and you applauding it as the miraculous cloning of a real human being.

 

Of course, when it comes down to the bottom line, Christianity is all about making money, and it wasn't long before the more business-minded members of the flock had taken laminin into the market-place. They were selling wall posters, coffee mugs, T-shirts, and even underpants; all of them dedicated to the cross-shaped protein that could only have come from god!