Basically, Congress----->no law----->establishment of religion
Of course things are never apprached so simply in law. If they were, there would be no lawyers!
Even still, the above distillation you laid out reaches the same conclusion: Congressional endorsements of the God of Abraham are in direct conflict with the Establishment Clause.
Ouch!
It most certainly does not mean "acknowledging". Acknowledging establishes nothing. We are talking about the establishment clause, after all.
I don't really see where you and I materially differ on that.
Can't you keep up with your own posts? This is what prompted me to post in the first place:
The intent is that Congress shall not respect religion as an establishment. In other words, Congress is to REMAIN SILENT on all things religious.
You were using the "esteem" definition of respect there, not the "concerning" definition of respecting. You can't deny that you basically tortured the word 'respecting' until you got it to say something closer to what you wanted it to say. Using that tactic, I could just as easily (and erroneously) argue that "an establishment" refers to a building (or that the Second confers a right upon the states, rather than prohibiting it from infringing upon the rights of the people).
Even still, the above distillation you laid out reaches the same conclusion:
No, it doesn't.
Congressional endorsements of the God of Abraham are in direct conflict with the Establishment Clause.
I disagree. An endorsement, like an acknowledgement, does not establish religion either. If Congress were to get together and resolve that "The God of Abraham is A-OK with us", it would no more have the force of law behind it than any other resolution. It would be simply a statement of majority opinion on an issue. It wouldn't be politically wise in this day and age, and I don't know that it would be an appropriate use of their time (although it's more appropriate IMO than wasting our money), but I don't think it would be a violation of the establishment clause.
As my city councilman's receptionist said to me, when I called last winter to complain about his vote on the antiwar resolution, "you do know it's only a resolution. don't you?"