Here's how 'one nation under God' was added to the Pledge of Allegiance

As Americans prepare to celebrate Flag Day and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, historian William Federer says the nation's founding ideals cannot be separated from its longstanding belief that rights come from God, not government.

In an interview with The Christian Post ahead of Flag Day on June 14 — commemorating June 14, 1777, when the Continental Congress passed a resolution adopting the first official United States flag — Federer reflected on the religious themes woven throughout American history, including the addition of "one nation under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" to U.S. currency during the Cold War era.

According to Federer, those changes reflected an effort to distinguish the U.S. from the atheistic communist ideology embraced by the Soviet Union.

"We just came out of World War II, and the Cold War was starting up with atheistic communism," Federer said. "We were contrasting our form of government, with rights from a Creator, to the Soviet Union."

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