Merry Xmas from Oswald Avery – but what if he had died early?

December 23, 2016 • 10:45 am

by Matthew Cobb

Here’s a picture of Oswald Avery (1877-1955), at an Xmas party in his Rockefeller Institute lab, in 1940. Avery – you may not have heard of him – was the man who discovered that genes are made of DNA, in a paper published in January 1944.

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Photo from this excellent NIH site: https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/CC/

Avery was proposed for the Nobel Prize dozens of times, both for his main work on pneumonia, and then for his truly ground-breaking discovery about DNA’s role as the ‘transforming principle’ in Pneumococcus bacteria.

At the time Avery was working, everyone thought that genes were made of proteins. Avery’s discovery was like a thunderbolt, and for that reason many people refused to accept it for many years. DNA was thought to be ‘boring’, composed of four bases – A, C, T and G – in roughly equal proportions. Proteins, on the other hand, were rich and varied, just like genes. Chromosomes are made up of DNA and proteins, and the assumption was that DNA was the backbone while the genes were made of proteins.

Jerry has written about Avery’s astonishing contribution before on this site, and I’ve written pieces for The Guardian and, at greater length, at Current Biology as well as in my book.

But what if Avery wasn’t able to do this work? What if he had died before identifying the genetic material as DNA? How would we have discovered what genes are made of? This example of counter-factual history is the subject of an article I’ve just published at PLoS Biology. It’s open access, so anyone can read it. Rather than repeating the whole thing, I’ll just give you an idea of the approaches I took, and I’d encourage you to go over, read the article, then comment on it here.

It seems to me that there are four major alternative routes to discovering the role of DNA in a world that was cruelly deprived of Oswald Avery’s perspicacity, determination and genius:

  1. Someone else would simply have done Avery’s work. The problem is, the system he was studying – transformation in Pneumococcus – is pretty niche. In reality, no one else who knew about transformation tried to identify its material basis, so it is hard to imagine that history would have simply proceeded along the same path, but with someone else’s name replacing Avery’s in the history books.
  2. An attempt might have been made to prove the role of proteins, for example in virus replication, and the result would have been that, in fact, DNA played the hereditary role. However, that study had already been done, by Wendell Stanley, in 1936, and he found that protein was the genetic material (in fact there were small amounts of nucleic acids in his sample). So sure was the world that Stanley’s result was correct, he got the Nobel Prize for this mistaken discovery in 1946!
  3. Perhaps studies of DNA structure would have led to the recognition that, as Watson and Crick put it in their second Nature paper of 1953, ‘the precise sequence of the bases is the code which carries the genetical information’, and that therefore DNA could be as varied as proteins. However, although researchers such as William Astbury were making X-ray crystallography studies of DNA even before the war, there was no way of identifying the sequence of DNA bases until the 1970s. It is even possible that the double helix could have been discovered, fêted for its role in chromosome replication (the reciprocal pairing of bases explains that), without its genetic role being suspected.
  4. It is even possible that people studying protein synthesis might have studied the role of RNA in protein synthesis and then worked out that the information must have got into the RNA from somewhere, and that a DNA-based gene would be the most likely explanation.

The aim of the article is not particularly serious – it is supposed to be provocative and amusing, an Xmas entertainment, much like my article here about ‘what if Franklin and Wilkins had been able to work together?’ (The Avery piece is also the article I referred to in the third para of that post…)

I hope that those of you who know something about the science of the period will be stimulated, and those of you who don’t will be informed. Merry Xmas one and all!

Reference: Cobb M (2016) A Speculative History of DNA: What If Oswald Avery Had Died in 1934? PLoS Biol 14(12): e2001197

Scorsese’s new film about how God was hidden but still exists anyway

December 23, 2016 • 9:15 am

Today’s posts are going to be largely about faith, perhaps because The Season is upon us and the Internet full of religion.

From the Aussie ABC we hear of a new movie by Martin Scorsese, a reliably good director.  The critically acclaimed film, called “Silence,” is about the absence of God, but of course that doesn’t mean there isn’t a god. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation gives a bit of the plot:

Set in 17th century Japan, Silence portrays a Portuguese Jesuit Priest ministering in secret to a hounded and persecuted minority Christian population in villages around Nagasaki.

Father Sebastião Rodrigues is forced to watch helplessly as various members of his flock in the hand of the Japanese “Inquisition” are set on fire, slowly tortured with boiling water, drowned, hanged or beheaded in front of him. Rodrigues screams out to his God for mercy, intervention or even just a word. In return he hears nothing.

Silence.

It is the weight of that silence that Scorsese explores in his adaptation of the novel by Shusaku Endo. He took almost three decades to make the film after first reading the novel in 1989 and it is clearly a profoundly personal exploration of a pressing dilemma for someone of Scorsese’s faith: Where is God in the darkness?

Indeed, one might well ask that question. If Nessie hasn’t shown up in Scotland, and there was plenty of opportunity for that reptile to have done so, including deliberate submersible attempts to find it, then one can reasonably conclude that there is no Nessie. But, according to the ABC—and Christians—God is different. When He doesn’t show up, well, it’s not because he isn’t there. He’s just wily and enigmatic!

By the end of Silence, Scorsese’s priest Rodrigues looks in more than one sense utterly defeated. His dreams are in tatters. Death is all around him. His whole identity has been wrenched from his grasp and his formidable resolve cruelly beaten out of him.

And yet, the silence of God does not mean the absence of God. It is in the silence that Rodrigues senses the presence of God suffering beside him. This is the God he believes feels deeply the injustices large and small that humans inflict on one another; who enters the human drama as a child and fully engages with the human experience.

It’s only in religion—in faith—that the absence of evidence is taking for evidence of presence. And really—God engages with the human experience as a passive spectator, as His children are tortured and he won’t help them? He only feels those injustices in his “engagement”? Only in religion can you get the tortured logic of theodicy.

Now one can say that that is Scorsese’s take on the movie, but I’m pretty sure it’s also the opinion of the piece’s writer, Simon Smart.  After all, this isn’t a movie review, but an “opinion” piece, and the ABC describes Simon Smart  like this:

Simon Smart is a Director of the Centre for Public Christianity and the co-author with Jane Caro, Antony Loewenstein and Rachel Woodlock of For God’s Sake – An Atheist, a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim Debate Religion. A former history and English teacher, he studied theology at Regent College, Vancouver. He is the author of a number of books including Bright Lights Dark Nights – the Enduring Faith of 13 Remarkable Australians.

So we can take the analysis above as Smart’s theology as well. He ends like this:

The Christmas story claims to be, out of the void, a moment of profound communication — a break in the silence between a creator and his creatures — God drawing near to us. Our literature and art has for centuries reflected the mysterious wonder of the incarnation and the sense that it represents the best hope that, despite appearances to the contrary, we are not alone in the universe.

That’s a remarkable statement (and an obscure one), for what gives “the best hope. . . that we are not alone in the universe” is not evidence, but a “story” in an ancient book. That story isn’t made more credible by centuries of “wonder.” Nor does Scorsese’s film appear to add any credibility. But such is faith, defined by Hebrews 1:11 as “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Here’s the film’s official trailer:

h/t: Phil

Readers’ wildlife photographs

December 23, 2016 • 7:45 am

We have photos from two disparate groups today. First, three diving ducks from reader Barbara Wilson:

Both the Goldeneye [Bucephala clangula, shown in the first picture] and the Surf Scoter are diving ducks.  The Surf Scoter is probably the most commonly seen duck that’s visible from land on the Oregon coast.

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Young Surf Scoter (Melanitta perspicillata) on the bay at Newport, Oregon, December 13.  Not a great photo, but my pictures of young males starting to get the colorful bill were worse.

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And, changing gears, a larva, with the caterpillar photos and videos by reader Glenn Butler:

I planted some spicebush (Lindera benzoin) in my back yard and was richly rewarded with the remarkable spicebush swallowtail (Papilio troilus). The early instars resemble bird droppings, but as the caterpillar grows larger, it disguises itself as a snake. I imagine that those eyespots must be fairly frightening if you’re a feathered predator. It also uses silk to create a leaf shelter for protection and will amazingly mimic a snake’s forked and flicking tongue when disturbed.

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Here’s the adult (photo from Wikipedia):

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I’m sending four short videos separately showing a time lapse retreat into a leaf shelter, the caterpillar feeding, and the astounding flicking tongue mimicry.

The time-lapse retreat:

Friday: Hili dialogue

December 23, 2016 • 6:50 am

It’s December 23: only two shopping days left till Christmas and the First Day of Koynezaa. It’s another double food holiday as well: National Bake Day and National Pfeffernüsse Day—an estimable cookie, and one eaten more in Europe than the U.S. It’s also HumanLight, a secular holiday celebrated in the U.S.—except I don’t know anybody who celebrates it, and I’ve never heard of it.

On this day in 1893, Humperdinck’s opera opera Hansel and Gretel was first performed. On December 23, 1947, the transistor was first demonstrated at Bell Labs, later to win a Nobel for its three inventors. Scientific medicine: on this day in 1954. Hartwell Harrison and Joseph Murray, performed the first successful kidney transplant. Finally, on this day in 1986, Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California, becoming the first aircraft to fly nonstop around the world without any refueling. The flight took a tad over nine days, and here’s the plane:

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Notables born on this day include the old faker Joseph Smith (father of Mormonism, 1805), photographer Yousuf Karsh, (1908), Chet Baker (1929), and Joan Severance (1958). Those who died on this day include the Russian NKVD head, terror-monger, and rapist Lavrentiy Beria (1953, tried and executed on Khruschev’s orders; Beria was a nasty piece of work), Charles Atlas (1973), Victor Borge (2000), and Oscar Peterson (2007). Meanwhile in Dobrzyhn, Hili and Cyrus are discussing the holidays:

Cyrus: Do we have any plans for Christmas?
Hili: Yes, we will organize a family meeting in the kitchen.
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In Polish:
Cyrus: Czy mamy jakieś plany na święta?
Hili: Tak, urządzimy sobie rodzinne spotkanie w kuchni.
 Reader Gayle Ferguson sent a photo of Jerry Coyne the cat, now residing in Christchurch, New Zealand. What a fine, furry fellow he’s become! He’s now almost two, and you can follow his growth at the link. Gayle continues to take in litters of stray kittens and foster them until they can find good homes. Kudos to her!

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Here’s Jerry as a kitten:

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And there’s a Google Doodle today, though I don’t think it has sound. It’s called “‘Tis the Season“, and here’s Google’s explanation:

Each of the letters in the word ‘Google’ represent a caroler with the letter ‘l’ waiting patiently to strike the triangle when the conductor, the letter ‘e’, gives it the nod.

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Important notice about Philomena

December 23, 2016 • 6:30 am

Matthew Cobb has just informed me of an Event:

At 13:00 uk time (so in 30 mins) you can hear Diane Morgan playing records for three hours. You can listen here.
That would be 7 a.m. Chicago time, or 8 a.m. EST in the U.S.  Also, for Philomenaphiles, she’s written a piece in the Guardian called “No one likes Christmas pudding, but we have to respect it.” Go have a read.
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Underwater in Antarctica

December 22, 2016 • 3:18 pm

The Australian Governments “Australian Antarctic Division: has produced a wonderful 8½-minute film of video taken by a submersible camera under the sea ice of East Antarctica. It’s full of colorful life down there, and I bet a lot of these species haven’t yet been described and named. The action ends at 4:58 and then there’s explanation.

How many groups can you identify? Did you see any fish?

 

A coalition of student groups at the University of Maryland make 64 demands

December 22, 2016 • 1:30 pm

As usual, stories of misbehavior by the Illiberal Left on college campuses come from right-wing sites, and this one comes from CampusReform. It describes a list of 64 demands that different student groups at the University of Maryland (where I held my first job), working together under the rubric of “ProtectUMD” have made of the administration. These demands can be verified by going to the Diamondback (the student newspaper) website.  I’ve put the list of “demands” below, but here’s what CampusReform says about them:

The Pro-Palestine demands are incompatible with the beliefs of the Jewish student organizations on campus, leading the student groups Terps for Israel, the Jewish Student Union, and J Street U to abstain from the project.

Students for Justice in Palestine declined to answer questions from Campus Reform, as did every other organization that was contacted.

“I think [these demands] are ridiculously easy [to accomplish],” said Muslim Student Association member Khaled Nurhssien told The Diamondback.

“We commend the students for their passionate advocacy and for coming together in solidarity on these issues,” a university spokesperson told Campus Reform. “President Loh has convened a group of his staff to thoroughly review the list of demands and make recommendations accordingly. That process is well underway.”

The UMD spokesperson declined to answer further questions.

When I first read this list of demands, I wanted to go through them and put in bold all the ones I considered unreasonable. But then I realized that the majority of these demands would be in bold, so the emphasis would be diluted. Instead, I’ll just bold a very few that I consider either very unreasonable or dangerous to freedom of speech.

FOR ALL MARGINALIZED STUDENT COMMUNITIES

  • Required diversity training for SGA recognized and Greek organizations.
  • The University employ more professors of color in all university departments
  • Increased mental health support and resources for students of color.
  • University scholarships for students of marginalized communities.
  • A statement from President Loh reassuring marginalized UMD students that the University is committed to making UMD a safe space for all marginalized groups in response to the election and urging these students to speak out when they feel that the university is not meeting this goal.

    • Accountability for hate speech or action:

  • Immediate response to hate speech or actions from the University including a consequence (e.g. mark on transcript, potential suspension);
  • Immediate turnaround for the removal of hate speech printed or written on campus property, sidewalks and boards;
  • A task force separate from UMPD officers to look into investigations.
  • Revamping of the Diversity and Cultural Competency General Education requirement.
  • Students that meet this requirement should take a class that allows them not only to understand other cultures, but also by the end of the course have an understanding of privilege, oppression, and marginalized groups.
  • Representation of students of color on UMD Student Judiciary and Senate.
  • Study into the punishment statistics by race/gender/etc. of students at some point in the coming year – the legal system is rife with discrimination against minorities, especially those in poverty. It is crucial that our student judiciary is more equitable and gives all students a fair judgement.
  • Establishing a voluntary accreditation for activist groups.
  • Administration should support and defend activist groups by nullifying slander and smear campaign from bigger group. Example: Many members of SJP were slandered as anti-Semitic for being pro-Palestine;
  • Make free legal advice available for students participating in activism who face slander or other dishonest claims while exercising their rights to protest and free speech;
  • Provide protection during campus events that might make students feel unsafe because of their political implications [ie Israel Fest for Muslim and Arab students, Columbus day and Independence Day for American Indian students etc.].
  • The University of Maryland match the campus minimum wage to Prince George’s minimum wage.
  • An established safe, secure and permanent location for the Office of Civil Rights & Sexual Misconduct at The University of Maryland.
  • The creation and implementation of Dean of Students with supporting staff.
    • Help implement policy change on behalf of student concerns
    • Requirements:
      • Master’s or Doctoral degree in Education Administration
      • Experience in diversity and inclusion on institutional level
      • Preferably a representative from a vulnerable group
    • Approach:
      • Students serve on Dean of Students search committee along with other staff, professors and administrators
  •  Role
    • Serve as liaison for student needs and concerns on behalf of administration
    • Get to know student groups on campus and is actively available for students; makes efforts to attend student engagements
    • Serve as an ally to marginalized students
    • FOR THE AMERICAN INDIAN STUDENT COMMUNITY

  • The University officially remove the Christopher Columbus Day holiday from all university materials and mediums. Replace it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day to take away the stain of colonialism from our University.
  • Acknowledge during every event, that “this is indigenous land.” Make efforts to officially recognize the tribe or nation whose land upon which the University of Maryland is built.
  • Establish an Indigenous Studies minor.
  • Funding for AISU and departments such as Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy office, who supports indigenous students and their efforts.
  • The official recognition of the Sarah Winnemucca award in the University awards.
  • An indigenous scholarship for college students as well as high school students.
  • An indigenous cultural center where students can explore their indigenous identity and others.
    • FOR THE BLACK STUDENT COMMUNITY

  • University System of Maryland divestment from Maryland Correctional Enterprises.
  • UMD student divestment from businesses and companies invested in MCE and the prison industrial complex.
  • Tenure for African American professors. [JAC: If this means all must get tenure, it’s unfair.]
  • Increased funding for the Nyumburu Cultural Center and making the Nyumburu Cultural Center a stop during UMD campus tours.
    • FOR THE LATINX STUDENT COMMUNITY

  • A claim to physical space on campus. A school that prides itself on diversity has failed to give students of color adequate, quality space such as a Latinx Cultural Center.
  • University recruitment practices involving students of color that making them and their friends feel welcome and included on campus.
  • A faculty body that is more diverse and representative of branches of academia that deal with the history and discourse of minority populations and integrating this into majors such as a USLT major and a road for tenure for the professors who teach in these departments.
  • More funding allocated for multicultural student organizations in order to execute educational and cultural programming to help bridge the diversity divide on campus.
    • FOR THE LGBTQIA+ STUDENT COMMUNITY

  • Mandated faculty training in the fundamentals of campus inclusion of queer folks.
  • Students be allowed the choice of different gender roommates in the residence halls through random matching.
  • Multi-stall gender-inclusive bathrooms in every building with multi-stall bathrooms.
  • Converting the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Studies program into a department in order to provide curricular autonomy.
  • Including pronouns in addition to names on student rosters seen by faculty and advisors.
  • Implementing a campus wide policy to replace male-female checkboxes with write-in boxes on all forms, surveys, and applications.
  • Gender neutral bathrooms in all buildings on campus.
  • Faculty (especially those working in the health center and counseling center), students, and college park police take part in queer diversity training, such as the Rainbow Terrapin Network.
  • The administration advocate for and defend the Arts and Humanities, as they are one of the departments most sensitive to LGBTQ issues and also one of the most at risk under new new state and federal leadership.
    • FOR THE MUSLIM STUDENT COMMUNITY

  • Protect the names and religious/ethnic affiliations of students should they be demanded from the government for harmful use.
  • An increase in the number of safe, designated prayer areas on campus.
  • One room in each major building (e.g. SPH, Chemistry, McKeldin etc.) designated for prayer. [JAC: This is a state school and that would violate the Constitution.]
  • Shuttle services to the Diyanet Center of America for Muslim students to have access to a place of worship and participate in the many activities that the center hosts.
  • Increased discussions about the diversity of the Muslim community on campus and worldwide.
  • More classes offered pertaining to Islam and the Muslim world taught by Muslim professors, who will counteract the negativity surrounding the name of Islam that is perpetuated by our culture and media.
  • Measures to prevent situations similar to the “American Sniper” situation from happening again.
  • SEE and other organizations on campus should have better judgement when choosing to show movies that perpetuate false narratives and stereotypes of Muslim and should be held accountable if they do not take this into consideration.
  • More Zabiha options on the campus meal plan to accommodate Muslims who adhere to those rulings.
  • More counselors who are sensitive to the needs of Muslim students. Ensure that the have the training be sensitive to the nuances in the Muslim community and are from the communities we often come from.
  • Additional training or staff is necessary.
    • FOR THE PRO-PALESTINE STUDENT COMMUNITIES

  • The encouragement of equal and positive representation of Pro-Palestinian human rights activists on campus. Specifically, condemning the conflation of Pro-Palestinian activism with racism and Anti-Semitism.
  • Pro-Palestinian activists are people who seek the fair treatment of Palestinians in Palestine and the rest of the world. Pro-Palestinians do not reject the human rights of any group of people, and encourage a fair and just system of governance across the globe.
  • The active encouragement of faculty and students to engage in discourse and learning about the Palestinians’ struggles and the Boycott Divest and Sanction movement without fear of consequences by the university administration.
  • Faculty and students have long been targeted for their political stances and their rights to free speech impeded, especially on this issue. We hope the university administration recognizes their disenfranchised groups and helps develop an environment within which it is safe for them to voice their opinions.
    • FOR THE UNDOCUMENTED STUDENT COMMUNITY
  • A full-time Undocumented Student Coordinator to advocate for, advise, represent, and protect undocumented and DACAmented students.
  • A declaration of the University of Maryland, College Park as a sanctuary campus for undocumented and DACAmented students and their families.
  • Ensured protection of student information about immigration status from local, state, and government agencies.
  • A system to ensure reaction and protection from the UMD Administration if an undocumented or DACAmented student faces detention or deportation proceedings.
  • A full-time immigration attorney for the Offices of Undergraduate and Graduate Student Legal Aid.
  • An Undocumented Student Resource Office to provide academic counseling, legal support, mental health counseling, and to guide students to university resources.
  • Mandatory training about undocumented students’ unique experiences and needs in academic settings for all university faculty and staff.
  • A significant expansion of mental health services for all students of color, especially undocumented and DACAmented students.
  • A system to ensure that DACAmented students can continue to receive in-state tuition if their DACA status is cancelled.
  • An opening up of merit scholarships and emergency funds to undocumented and DACAmented students.

    • Signed by: African Students Progressive Action Committee, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated Theta Nu Chapter, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated Iota Zeta Chapter, The American Indian Student Union, Ashley Vasquez, BSOS UMD Senator, Committee on Committees Undergraduate Rep, Bisexuals at Maryland, The Black Student Union, Chi Chapter of Hermandad de Sigma Iota Alpha, Incorporada, The Coalition of Latinx Student Organizations, Community Roots, Eta Beta Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc, Ethiopian Eritrean Student Association, Kappa Phi Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, Katherine Swanson, Student Body President, NAACP, University of Maryland, Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc. Upsilon Chapter, Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity, Inc. Delta Eta Chapter, The Muslim Student Association, True Colors of Maryland, Political Latinxs United for Movement and Action in Society, Preventing Sexual Assault, The Pride Alliance, Students for Justice in Palestine, Student Labor Action Project, Our Revolution

    Notice all the different types of mandatory sensitivity training for faculty, students, and staff. Were that done, there would be no time for other education!

    h/t: pyers

    Obama signs bill committing U.S. to protecting atheists in foreign lands

    December 22, 2016 • 11:00 am

    Given the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, I would have thought that atheists were protected under U.S. law, at least as far as being able to express their beliefs publicly. Well, they are, but Obama has made the U.S. commitment to international protection of atheists explicit by just now signing H.R. 1150 into law: The Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act (see bill here).  As  PoliticalDig reports,

    The Frank Wolf International Religious Freedom Act is an amendment to the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. The amendment’s official stated purpose is:

    “To amend the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to improve the ability of the United States to advance religious freedom globally through enhanced diplomacy, training, counterterrorism, and foreign assistance efforts, and through stronger and more flexible political responses to religious freedom violations and violent extremism worldwide.”

    The newly amended law states, “The freedom of thought, conscience, and religion is understood to protect theistic and non-theistic beliefs as well as the right not to profess or practice any religion.” The law further condemns any “policy or practice of routinely denying applications for visas for religious workers in a country can be indicative of a poor state of religious freedom in that country.” This goes against the belief of President-elect Donald Trump and his plan to persecute people because of their religious beliefs by denying them access to the U.S.

    And here’s the operative part of the bill:

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    In case you can’t read that, it says “the freedom of thought and religion is understood to protect theistic and non-theistic beliefs as well as the right not to profess or practice any religion.”

    Suprisingly, the bill was passed with bipartisan support—an anomaly in a country that’s said to be “Christian” and in which atheists are reviled as if they were lepers. But now the U.S. is committed to defending the rights not just of religionists everywhere in the world, but also thoseof nonbelievers. As Vocativ notes:

    The bill focuses only on atheists living outside of the country. It’s a strengthening of a 1998 religions freedom law, which established the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, dedicated to protecting religious liberty around the world. For 18 years, the office has investigated abuse of Christians, Jews and religious minorities in other countries, but it has never tracked instances of persecution against atheists. Now, the law will also include those who don’t subscribe to a recognized religion. “The freedom of thought, conscience, and religion is understood to protect theistic and non-theistic beliefs and the right not to profess or practice any religion,” the act now states.

    The additions also denounce “the specific targeting of non-theists, humanists, and atheists because of their beliefs” as well as attempts to “forcibly [compel] non-believers or non-theists to recant their beliefs or to convert.” [JAC: I can’t find this language in the bill. Am I missing something?]

    Granted, this act does not give additional protection to atheists in America, but non-theistic advocacy groups are hailing the move as a historic step. After all, it’s one of the rare American recognitions that atheists have rights too.

    Obama is doing a whole lot of good stuff in the waning days of his term, and this is one of them. What was the impetus? Perhaps the murder of atheist bloggers in Bangladesh, or perhaps just a general protection of nontheism. Remember, in his first Inaugural Address he said this:
    For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.  We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and non-believers.  We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
    And who is Frank. R. Wolf? Well, for 34 years he was a Republican Congressman from Virginia, retiring last year, and did defend the rights of some persecuted religious minorities like the Bahá’í. And Wikipedia notes this:
    On May 9, 2014, Wolf introduced the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Reauthorization Act of 2014 (H.R. 4653; 113th Congress), a bill that would amend the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to reauthorize the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) as an independent federal government advisory body through FY2019.
    But it adds this:

    A devout Christian, Wolf was opposed to abortion and subsidized birth control for federal employees. As congressman, Wolf also voted to deny funding to Planned Parenthood. He also opposed funding for international family planning in developing countries. Wolf also previously asserted that marriage should only be between one man and one woman. As such, he signed a letter supporting the “one man one woman” issue in the Manhattan Declaration. Wolf sponsored the bill that became the District of Columbia Civil Contempt Imprisonment Limitation Act, H.R. 2136, in 1989 and supported the bill that became the Elizabeth Morgan Act in 1996. He was a prominent anti-gay congressman, citing religious scriptures as the basis for his position.

    One might have thought that a bill protecting religious minorities would not be named after a guy who tried to enforce Christian morality on the rest of the world. But I’ll take what I can get.

    h/t: Richard M.