Theologian seeks presidency in Germany to
protest bombing
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
NCR Staff
A well-known Catholic feminist theologian and peace activist in
Germany is running for her countrys presidency in order to protest the
NATO bombardment of Yugoslavia.
Uta Ranke-Heinemann spurns the campaign trail, preferring to give
interviews from an armchair in her home in Essen, near Germanys western
border with the Netherlands. But Ranke-Heinemann, author of Eunuchs for the
Kingdom of Heaven, a 1988 book that strongly criticized church teaching on
women and sexuality, is serious about exploiting the visibility of an election
to speak out against the war.
I grew up with American bombs falling on my family,
Ranke-Heinemann, 71, told NCR in a telephone interview. I know
what the flames, the destruction that I see every night on television mean.
Nobody was saying anything against whats happening in Yugoslavia, so I
decided to.
A special assembly comprised of the lower house of the German
parliament and representatives of the countrys 16 states will elect the
new president May 23. The post is largely ceremonial.
Ranke-Heinemanns father, Gustav Heinemann, served as
Germanys president from 1969 to 1974.
In 1969, Ranke-Heinemann became the first woman to qualify as a
lecturer in Catholic theology in a German university. Eunuchs brought
her wide international acclaim; the book was a worldwide success, selling well
over a million copies.
Her local bishop revoked Ranke-Heinemanns chair in theology
at the University of Essen in 1987 after she said the virgin birth should be
understood theologically rather than biologically. She obtained a position
teaching the history of religion at Essen instead -- a job not under
ecclesiastical control -- and she still holds emeritus status there.
Ranke-Heinemann says NATO leaders are right to want to end the
ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. But people are never more dangerous than when
they have good intentions, she said. The idea that somehow we will
save people by bombing, that we will help some children by starving others, is
absurd.
She also objects to NATOs decision to strike TV stations,
Milosevics home and other targets seemingly chosen for intimidation
rather than military value. The idea seems to be, I am your god NATO and
you shall have no other gods before me. Thats an unbelievably arrogant,
horrifying stance.
Germany, a NATO member, sent 14 Tornado fighter-bombers to take
part in the aerial assault on Yugoslavia, marking the first time German forces
have taken part in combat since World War II. Though left-leaning politicians
have voiced opposition, most polls show a majority of Germans support the
bombardment.
Ranke-Heinemann said that international mediation, under the
auspices of the United Nations and with strong Russian involvement, should
replace bombing.
On my trips to America, I was always impressed with what a
pious people they are, she said. But how do they reconcile such
piety with all this killing? It seems to me whats happening in Yugoslavia
is an eloquent refutation of Christianity, to the extent its murder
carried out by Christian nations using all sorts of fine words to mask
whats happening.
When the vote is held May 23, Ranke-Heinemann will be the official
nominee of the Party of Democratic Socialism, the successor to East
Germanys communists. She cheerfully concedes it is ridiculous
to think she might win. Everybody in Germany knows I will not be
elected, she said.
Nevertheless, Ranke-Heinemanns campaign has attracted wide
interest. She has been quoted in most major newspapers and on television and
radio programs about her opposition to the war.
My husband didnt want to me to do it, because he was
afraid the nasty letters would start all over again, Ranke-Heinemann
said, referring to negative reactions in some quarters to her earlier
criticisms of the church.
But it has been exactly the opposite. I was walking to the
grocery store the other day, and a woman waiting for a stoplight jumped out of
her car and hugged me. When I got there, the cashier embraced me,
too.
Her caution about public reaction is based in part on withering
criticism of her theological views from church authorities over the years.
Cardinal John OConnor of New York likened Eunuchs to
scrawling dirty words about the church on bathroom walls.
Archbishop Johannes Dyba of Fulda, Germany, once asked during a public homily,
When will Uta Ranke-Heinemann finally leave the church?
Though she acknowledges that Pope John Paul II has been one of the
few international figures to speak out clearly against the bombing,
Ranke-Heinemann says he hasnt really committed himself to ending it.
If he were serious, he would send all the bishops and
cardinals to protest in front of the White House, she said. Can you
imagine what kind of effect that would have?
Ranke-Heinemanns family is a fixture in German politics. She
is the aunt of the wife of another presidential contender, Johannes Rau. Her
father was the federal minister of the interior under Konrad Adenauer,
Germanys first postwar chancellor. Heinemann resigned in protest over
Adenauers decision to rearm and later served as president during the term
of leftist Chancellor Willy Brandt.
Ranke-Heinemann helped lead the peace movement in Germany during
the 1970s and 1980s, working alongside famed Green Party founder Petra Kelly.
Today Ranke-Heinemann distances herself from the Greens, who have moved to the
political center in their partnership with Chancellor Gerhard
Schröders reformed socialists.
National Catholic Reporter, May 14,
1999
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