[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by August

Yet a majority of Congress must have disagreed with Madison because they did do all of that.

Yes, a majority of Congress did vote to have their religious preferrences installed into the National Government, thereby ignoring their own "No Law" rule.

I don't think we should base our interpretation of our Constitutional amendments by what individual members said or wrote. Politicians say all sorts of things before, during and after the passage of legislation, and for various reasons too depending on their audience, but the only thing that should really count is what is actually voted into law by the legislative body as a whole.

Congress has always had one law for themselves and another for everybody else. What's that old saw about "tyrrany of the masses"?

I think if Congress had agreed with Jeffersons total "Wall of Separation" then I think they would have said so, but they didn't. The First Amendment is pretty clear: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

But Congressional prayer, or any officially sanctioned public prayer is not free excersise, it's forced religious exercise, forced on anyone who disagrees with it.

There is nothing in that which implies a community free Americans cannot include prayers and benedictions in their civic ceremonies, just like the US Congress does.

As I said, what you described is not free exercise at all, but the religious forcing everyone in the community to be a part of their worship. That goes against the spirit of the Constitution, as well as what Jesus himself said. If you pray in public, out loud, you're a hypocrite.