And I’ll go a step further and say that prayer in Congress is also forbidden. The continual act of prayer in Congress constitutes a policy, which is in fact a de-facto law. Congress and the government function on policies. Policies are legal and binding. If they are not, they are challenged in the court system.
The framing fathers always intended to have a clear line in the sand between government and religion. Even though various changes to the phrasing of the Amendment were ultimately rejected in 1789, they provide valuable insight as to the overall intent of the law itself. One can easily see the attempts by various senators to clarify and enhance the phrasing as they felt the context was too ambiguous.
Saying “they don’t mean anything” would be self-defeating as in order to understand the original laws, one must understand why the laws were introduced to begin with. And in many cases, the only way to find out is to witness the construction of the law as it is being introduced in Congress.
re: “And I’ll go a step further and say that prayer in Congress is also forbidden.”
If what you are saying is correct, then why did the very same Congress that debated and passed the First Amendment, proscribed for opening each session of Congress with prayer? Why was it not an issue with them?
Why did they proscribe for chaplains? Obviously they saw no conflict with the 1st Amendment.
The reason is because it was not a violation of the First Amendment! It is clear that the amendment prohibited the Federal government from “establishing” (not endorsing) a particular denomination (as was practiced in Europe). They did not want a national Christian denomination that everyone had to support with taxes (as was also the case in Europe).
They had no problem with having prayer or invoking Scripture or God’s name in speeches, on national monuments, and in Presidential proclamations throughout our history. None of these things “established” a particular denomination. Expressions of general Judeo-Christian belief in God by governmental leaders was not considered violating the 1st Amendment for over 200 years - not until the last 30 years. Now, somehow, it’s a problem.