A U.S. Army Reserve Equal Opportunity training brief describes "Evangelical Christianity" and "Catholicism" as examples of "religious extremism," according to the Archdiocese for the Military Services and the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, who shared a copy of the documents with The Christian Post.

"The number of hate groups, extremists and anti‐govt organizations in the U.S. has continued to grow over the past three years, according to reports by the Southern Poverty Law Center. They increased to 1,018 in 2011, up from 1,002 in 2010 and 602 in 2000," reads the first page of the slide presentation labeled "Extremism & Extremist Organizations."

Listed alongside "extremist" groups and organizations like the Klu Klux Klan and al-Qaida, the U.S. Army slideshow has "Evangelical Christianity" as the first bullet, followed by the Muslim Brotherhood, Ultra-Orthodox Judaism and farther down on the slide, Catholicism. more >>

As North Korea's official news agency ramped up its rhetoric and declared on Thursday the possibility of war breaking out "today or tomorrow" with the West, Christians living in the oppressive communist country have verified that preparations for war are being made around the clock, and are asking fellow believers worldwide to pray.

"The military army, navy, air force troops, strategic rocket troops, the red guards and the red youth guards are already in combat mode. Urgent meetings are being held everywhere, regardless if it is day or night. At those meetings, officials make decisions on what needs to happen in case war breaks out and everyone, including women, needs to be combat ready," a local church leader has said of the situation, according to persecution watchdog Open Doors USA.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un said in a message to the people, according to Open Doors' sources, that "If war breaks out because of the actions of the U.S. and puppet South Korean's unpardonable behavior, they will end up with a disgraceful downfall, and our people will greet a brilliant new day of reunification. The day has come to show off the power of 'Military First' and our great nation to the whole world." more >>

NEW YORK -- The UN General Assembly passed a historic Arms Trade Treaty on Tuesday in New York, aimed at regulating the $70bn conventional arms trade business, the illegal trade of which has been blamed for millions of deaths and affected lives in developing regions.

"We owe it to those millions - often the most vulnerable in society - whose lives have been overshadowed by the irresponsible and illicit international trade in arms," said Peter Woolcott Australia's ambassador to the UN.

The U.N. member-states voted overwhelmingly in favor of the agreement, with 154 votes for the regulations, three opposed, and 23 abstentions, BBC reported. Syria, Iran and North Korea were the three nations that tried to block the treaty, while Russia and China, two of the world's biggest exporters, abstained. more >>

The Russian military has introduced a high-tech air-dropped church along with a unit of priests trained in parachuting and vehicle assembly to serve the army and navy's Orthodox Christian soldiers in the field. The European country claims its airborne-friendly and ready-to-assemble house of worship is the first the world has ever seen, although similar structures have long been in existence.

RIA Novisit, Russian's official news and information agency, shared photos over the weekend on its Facebook page of paratroopers holding exercises near Ryazan, about 124 miles from Moscow. The news agency noted that among the "ordinary paratroopers" were paratrooper priests and their "mobile cathedral."

The paratrooper chaplains are among a preliminary group of about a dozen Russian Orthodox Church priests assigned to the country's Baltic Fleet in an effort to restore full-service chaplaincy to the country's armed forces, according to RIA Novisit. Russia is reportedly planning to assign 400 military chaplains to army and naval units. more >>

As Pope Francis delivered an Easter Sunday message of peace, the U.S. sent out fighter jets to the Korean peninsula for military drills amid rising tensions and the danger of war.

"Peace in Asia, above all on the Korean peninsula: may disagreements be overcome and a renewed spirit of reconciliation grow," Pope Francis stated, speaking in Italian. He was speaking in his first Easter Sunday address since being appointed leader of the Roman Catholic Church, greeting over 250,000 people from the central balcony at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.

He also prayed that Jesus would inspire people to "change hatred into love, vengeance into forgiveness, war into peace," Reuters reported. more >>

NEW YORK – Christian leaders from several organizations gathered in New York on March 27 for a prayer service over the Arms Trade Treaty currently being reviewed by world leaders at the U.N.

"One of the goals here is to reduce the trafficking of these weapons, which has often resulted in Muslim terrorist groups having tremendous amounts of weapons to bring down or to weaken Christian nations in Africa and other places. This is a small effort, because it is hard to enforce these things – it's really more spiritual warfare than having something on paper," said Paul de Vries, president of the New York Divinity School, speaking with The Christian Post at the event.

The Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is an attempt to create restrictions and enforce laws aimed at tackling the widespread illegal distributions of weapons and ammunitions in underdeveloped nations where crime is high, and children are often taken as soldiers by local armies. more >>