Re: 7 - “The rewrite of the First Amendment started with Justice Hugo Black in the 1947 “Everson” decision.
Black did not want state resources supporting Catholic schools.
In the 1920’s Black was involved in Alabama with the KKK.”
That may have been what AJ Black wanted, his Majority Opinion in Everson was counter to his personal beliefs, ostensibly because he was a generally a textualist.
The KKK of the 1920’s hostile to the Roman Catholic Church Roman Catholic population of the USA in general.
I don’t have the book in front of me saw it at one of those places they sell old books it was a bio of Justice Black it posed the question you raise.