Rev Basil John Hutsko told police he was attacked on Monday morning inside the St Michaels Byzantine Catholic Church in Merrillville.

Police Chief Joseph Petruch told CNN the attacker “grabbed him by the neck threw him down on the floor and immediately started slamming his head against the floor”.

He added that the assailant, who left Hutsko unconscious, yelled “This is for all the little kids” during the assault.

The attack follows the recent grand jury report in Pennsylvania that detailed decades of abuse of children by more than 300 priests in the US state.

A fellow priest said Hutsko has never been accused of sex abuse.

“He’s a very dedicated priest and hardworking and in good standing, it’s just a random act [on] an innocent priest,” Rev Thomas Loya explained.

The police chief added: “I have enough there to say it’s a hate crime.”

No one’s been arrested so far in the case.

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Paul Northup, who runs the August festival, spoke on Premier’s Inspiration Breakfast show about Greenfelt, which has been going since 1974 and started as Christian music event.

Northup said there would be performers and speakers that Christians would be familiar with such as theologian Paula Gooder, John Bell, Father Nadim Nassar and speaker Anthony Reddie.

When asked if it was good idea to book Pussy Riot, the protest group in Russia, Northup said:

“We think it was. We’ve been watching them with some interest over many years and it was in autumn last year that we made a concerted effort to try to reach out and make contact with them because we were keen to understand them more, their motivations more and to see if we could invite them to the festival – to get to know them better and for them to get to know what space that we’re trying to make.”

The group’s members have been arrested several times and been called sacrilegious by the Russian Orthodox church, whom much of their work is critical of. One of their most famous escapades was when they performed in the Cathedral of Chris the Saviour in Moscow in 2012. 

Northup explained that they were not as controversial a booking as some may think:

“It’s an easy thing to say – to just go along with the government’s line that they were arrested for inciting religious hatred. What they were trying to do in that initial punk…

Built in 1739 by the famous preacher as a place of worship, the New Room also served as a dispensary and schoolroom for the poor people of the area.

It now serves as a museum and hosts community events.

Eavis visited the New Room after a multi-million pound redevelopment last year, one of 36,000 visitors since.

Michael Eavis said: “How can I not be absolutely thrilled to be asked to be Patron of this beautiful building, the cradle of ideas that had such influence on promoting unprecedented social and religious change, contributing so much to our national heritage?

“I have been associated with Methodism my whole life and every week I attend a Methodist chapel service in my home village of Pilton. I must admit though that what I enjoy the most is the singing of those marvellous Wesley hymns. But then there’s the more serious side of why we all need to reflect on our life’s purpose and the strong desire to praise our creator.”

New Room director, David Worthington, said: “Michael’s affiliation to Methodism and his ongoing commitment to social justice made him an ideal candidate for the newly-created position of patron of the New Room.

“The trustees warmly welcome Michael to his new role and thank him for his commitment to our ongoing work and ministry.”

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Around 40 per cent of almost 1,000 doctors questioned by mental health charity Mind said they had dealt with issues, such as depression, anxiety, bipolar or post-traumatic stress disorder.

Dr Mark Pickering, a Christian prison GP in Yorkshire told Premier he wasn’t surprised by the results of the poll.

“Many of my colleagues face mental health problems. The workload, the intensity of the job – it’s a very stressful environment for GPs and for many people in the health service,” he said during Premier’s News Hour.

“I guess we often tend to focus on caring for our patients and sometimes we can neglect our own health and maybe not feel able to speak up about that.”

The survey found less than half of GPs would turn to their colleagues for support if they experienced a mental health problem in the future.

However, 86 per cent said they would get support from families and friends, while 79 per cent would go to their personal doctor.

Mind welcomed existing initiatives such as a confidential NHS support service for GPs, but has called on the Government and NHS England to do more to help those affected.

Dr Pickering said Christians could also do more to support GPs.

He added: “Many of us will have GPs and other healthcare professionals within our churches and one thing you can do is just ask them ‘how work is going?’

“Obviously they can’t talk about confidential things but in…

Following two pilot events in May, Christians in Politics (CiPol) will be travelling around the UK later this year to encourage believers to channel their enthusiasm for societal change into action.

CiPol are a non-affiliated political charity who work with Christians in parliament and beyond to disagree well and put ‘Kingdom before tribe’.

This latest idea to tour the country was explained on Premier’s News Hour by Executive Director Andy Flannagan.

He said churches can fall into the trap of not thinking politics is for them: “Often we’re [Christians] doing that classic thing of being the paramedic, being those who provide the emergency services, we’re treating the victims of a sick system but not necessarily speaking truth and justice and righteousness to the system itself”.

The Influence tour will involve showing Christians the biblical call to be engaged with public life and provide opportunities for those who are considering politics to speak to Christians in the field.

He explained that many people don’t realise that the outreach they do at church puts them in a valuable position to be a Christian voice in politics: “So often the focus in politics is the soap opera of Westminster.

“We’re trying to encourage those folks who are already involved in doing that work that often they are best placed to represent their communities.”

The tour starts in November and runs…