I do not read the 14th Amendment's "equal protection of the laws" as restrictive in States' religious matters.
By the 14th Amendment all States, within their jurisdictions, cannot usurp the privileges and immunities possessed by United States citizens (a virtue of federal laws up to and including the Constitution), and must apply all federal laws and their own State laws equally within their jurisdictions. The 1st Amendment's limitation on religion is neither a U.S. citizen's privilege nor an immunity. It is a restriction placed solely on Congress. And the 10th Amendment unambiguously reserves for the States or the People anything not expressly granted to the Federal government through the Constitution.
So; Congress is prohibited from making any law establishing a religion or prohibiting its free exercise. Religion is not a U.S. citizen's privilege or immunity. And religion is reserved to the States respectively, or to the People. Simply, by the U.S. Constitution, religion is only subject to State, not Federal, government.
That's the way I read the Constitution. I also feel the 14th Amendment has been as massively abused by the Judicial Branch as the Commerce Clause has been abused by the Legislative Branch.
To reiterate, the federal courts have no standing in religious matters. They have unconstitutionally inserted themselves into it and in doing have unconstitutionally legislated from the bench.
You believe a state could legally ban a religion?
Or make private ownership of guns illegal? Since the BoR was ruled not to restrict the states that would follow.
These are theoretical questions for the most part since state constitutions address these issues. But interesting nevertheless.