The larger political parties in Eindhoven are very concerned about the meetings that faith healer Tom de Wal wants to hold in the city this weekend. “We find it undesirable and worrying,” says Niels Groot of the CDA in Eindhoven. GroenLinks, the largest party in the Eindhoven city council, has asked questions together with the PvdA. “How do we protect our Eindhoven residents?” asks councilor Eva de Bruijn.
Faith healer Tom de Wal of Frontrunners Ministries will start his new church in Eindhoven this month. They want to organize several healing services under the name ‘Good News Eindhoven’.
Initially they wanted to do that in the Evoluon. But according to Next Nature, the museum located in the UFO-shaped building, they are not welcome. De Wal has now reserved a place in the Van der Valk hotel in the city.
The meetings are controversial. During these services, people could be ‘cured’ from diseases such as MS, Parkinson’s and cancer and ‘liberated’ from ‘demons’ such as homosexuality and autism. The leaders of the new church ‘Goed Nieuws Eindhoven’ are students of the full-time bible school of De Wal. It is still unclear where the weekly services will take place in Eindhoven.
Political parties in Eindhoven are concerned about the meetings planned this weekend in the hotel in Eindhoven. “We find matters such as gay healing highly morally objectionable,” says De Bruijn of GroenLinks-PvdA. “We want to keep that out of Eindhoven, within the power or resources we have as a city and as a municipality. We stand for an inclusive city where everyone can be who they are.”
GroenLinks-PvdA have written a letter to the mayor and aldermen. It states, among other things: ‘In addition, there are signals that during these types of meetings there may be misleading and possibly even defrauding of vulnerable people.’
The parties also discuss freedom of religion. They call that a great asset. ‘But that freedom should never mean that vulnerable people are harmed, misled, or that the fundamental freedoms of others, such as LGBTQ+ people, come under pressure.’
“We’re not really looking forward to it.”
“We are very curious about what possibilities the council sees to at least limit the damage and ensure that these types of practices can take place as little as possible in Eindhoven,” De Bruijn of GroenLinks responds.
Niels Groot of the CDA does not want people to think that his party is cheering on a faith healer. “Are there homogeneous readings and cures for autism? Then that is not desirable. Then it is even worrying.”
“If it is allowed and it is not against the law, can you stop it?” he asks. “The mayor and the civil service will of course test whether they meet the requirements of the permit. It is really up to the mayor to see whether this is possible and allowed. We are clear: we are not really looking forward to it.”
The questions will be discussed at a meeting in Eindhoven City Hall on Tuesday evening.
