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Book Review: The Devil's Delusion: Atheism and its Scientific Pretensions. Written by David Berlinski. Published by Crown Forum, 2008. When reading anything written in German, I never do so with the expectation of having any emotional reaction. It is my opinion that the German language tends to be very utilitarian, a language that is not often associated with love songs and endearments. It is a language which is more likely to be associated with engineering specifications than with sweet nothings or with words filled with spiritually uplifting connotations. I have no doubt that many native-speaking Germans will find fault with my opinion of their language, and would be able to show me examples of German literature replete with beauty and emotion. The dedication of David Berlinski's newest book, The Devil's Delusion, is partially written in German and when I read it, I did indeed have a strong emotional reaction. Berlinski dedicates his book “To the memory of my maternal grandfather, Samuel Goldfein,” and then the dedication is completed in German. I have attempted to contact Berlinski's publisher, Crown Forum, to ask them about the dedication, but they are apparently too inept to actually respond to phone calls and e-mails. I wanted to ask them why the dedication was written in German, but lacking their answer, I will put here in writing what I suspect. The dedication to the book tells the story of a sixty-six year old Ukrainian Jew, Berlinski's grandfather, who was transported to Dresden as forced labor in February of 1943, then sent to the Jewish ghetto, Theresienstadt, in March of that same year. For those who may not know, Theresienstadt was a place where many older Jews were sent prior to being sent to the extermination camps. Nearly nine months later, he was deported to Auschwitz. The dedication ends with the simple phrase “in Auschwitz vershollen.”
Berlinski tells this story by simply mentioning precise dates, cities, and a very few efficiently used German words. It appears to me that Berlinski has lifted these words directly from German documents, and I am more convinced of this because of the misspelling of the word “verschollen” (missing). The picture becomes more clear when one stops to consider that, under normal circumstances, a sixty-six year old Jew's presence would never have been registered at Auschwitz in 1943. As the transport trains arrived in Auschwitz-Birkenau, they would stop at the railway platform and the Jews would be brutally forced to leave the railcars in a great hurry. Men and women formed up in separate lines and were herded past the SS officers who conducted the Selektion (selection), directing people to one side, which meant that they would be gassed that same day, or the other side, which meant that they were designated for forced labor. A sixty-six year old man would certainly have been designated for immediate extermination because he would not be of much use under the extreme conditions of the forced labor. When Goldfein entered the camp in 1943, the Germans had already implemented the practice of not registering the presence in Auschwitz of anyone that was selected for immediate extermination. But in 1943 the Germans had a bit of a public relations problem to deal with. The International Committee of the Red Cross had requested of the German government a visit to Theresienstadt and also a visit to a “Jewish labor camp.” In anticipation of the Red Cross insisting on visiting Auschwitz, Adolph Eichmann, the Gestapo head of Jewish affairs, established a sham camp at Auschwitz that became known as a “family camp.” A total of ten thousand Jews were deported from Theresienstadt to the Auschwitz family camp in the latter part of 1943, and Berlinski's grandfather was among these deportees. So when he arrived at Auschwitz, rather than being immediately exterminated, he was registered, tattooed with a number, and allowed to live in the family camp until July of 1944, when it became obvious to Eichmann that the Red Cross was not going to insist on a visit to Auschwitz. All remaining members of the family camp were gassed at that time. With Berlinski's dedication in mind, I try to imagine that hell-hole that is Auschwitz in July of 1944. A prisoner stands near the cremation area. Even while the smell of burning bodies still lingers in the air, he is making notations in a book, the Totenbuch (death book). He may be a Ukrainian POW or he may be another Jew who has been forced into this labor in lieu of meeting the same fate as those whose names he records. He speaks German, but is either uneducated or unfamiliar with written German, and so when he comes to the name of Samuel Goldfein, he writes “vershollen” rather than “verschollen.” He does not write ausbrechen (escaped), or sterben (died), or even hinrichten (executed), even though he knows that Samuel Goldfein was indeed executed. He writes that Samuel Goldfein is missing, as though he has disappeared and nobody really knows where he might be. It is rather unusual for a book review to begin, as this one has, with seven paragraphs that discuss the dedication of the book, but the dedication of The Devil's Delusion provides an insight into the real reason that the book is written. Berlinski is a self-professed secular Jew. He is not a diabolical right-wing Christian. He does not recall any of the Hebrew that he was taught, so he can't be accused of being a member of the Hasidim. He is just a guy who knows that atheism, in it's most nightmarish form, is what caused the Holocaust and he has written a book that is a response to the many books that have been written by militant atheists such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett. David Berlinski has a Ph.D. from Princeton University and he has taught mathematics and philosophies in both the United States and France. He is a genius. He has written many books, but the two others that I have read are Infinite Ascent and The Gift of Newton. I recommend both of these books as highly educational and entertaining. As a point of further identification, you will find Berlinski in Ben Stein's movie, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. If you are familiar with the movie, you will recall that Berlinski is the guy that Ben traveled to Paris to interview. You may recall Ben asking Berlinski whether Richard Dawkins is an intelligent man, and Berlinski responded by saying that yes, Dawkins is very intelligent, but he is something of a reptile. Berlinski gets right to the heart of the matter in his introduction to this book. He states that many of us suspect that the scientific community holds us in contempt. He goes on to say that we “are right to feel this way.” He has written this book to expose and, at times, ridicule the scientific pretensions of atheistic scientists. Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris might be considered to be the leaders of a group that the Wall Street Journal refers to as “militant atheists.” Rather than simply allowing that intelligent people may arrive at different conclusions about the existence of God and about Darwinian evolution, they have taken to ridiculing and belittling theists. Berlinski notes that Richard Dawkins has remarked “It is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid, or insane.” The militant atheists have appeared on the scene in just the past few years, and the reason for their appearance is a subject of some debate. The witless wonder, E.J. Dionne, suggests that these militant atheists are reacting to the recent strength of the Religious Right. Ravi Zacharias, in his book The End of Reason, suggests that their appearance and popularity may have more to do with their controversial nature. Berlinski suggests another reason for the existence of the militant atheists when he says, “The advent of militant atheism marks a reaction – a lurid but “natural” reaction – to the violence of the Islamic world.” This is a theory worthy of consideration. The most enjoyable aspect of The Devil's Delusion is that Berlinski is every bit as militant in his theism as Dawkins and company ever thought about being in their atheism, and he is clever and witty to the point of providing the reader with several full belly laughs. Let us face facts. Richard Dawkins is never going to change his mind about the existence of God. He is too much invested in his militant atheism. If he ever experiences a doubt about his belief system, he will never share said doubt with the world. The same applies to all of the militant atheists that we encounter in our bookstores today. So I am not terribly upset about Berlinski subjecting these guys to ridicule that makes them look astoundingly silly. A few examples: About Richard Dawkins, Berlinski says, “He is not only an intellectually fulfilled atheist, he is determined that others should be as full as he.” When speaking of Stephen Hawkings bestseller, A Brief History of Time, Berlinski notes that it is “a book widely considered fascinating by those who did not read it, and incomprehensible by those who did.” He goes on to say that his “work will seem remarkably familiar to readers who grasp the principle behind pyramid schemes or magical acts in which women disappear into a box only to emerge as tigers shortly thereafter.” There is a distinct temptation to continue noting here all of the brilliant ideas found in The Devil's Delusion. But it is Berlinski's work and you must pay him for it. Please, go buy the book. You will not be disappointed. The man and his work are both brilliant. In The Devil's Delusion, Berlinski tells the story of a Jew who was forced to dig his own grave prior to being shot by a German soldier. Prior to being shot, the old Jewish man advised the German that “God is watching what you are doing.” The Jewish gentleman pointed to the real problem with atheism. If there is no God to watch what you are doing, then why should you be circumspect in your behavior? Certainly the Germans at Auschwitz, who gassed Samuel Goldfein, did not believe that God was watching them. As Berlinski points out, that is the real problem with atheism. Thank you, David Berlinski, for providing an irrefutable response to the militant atheists.
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