Danny,

I have always understood Kol Nidre as you have presented it. Jewish family and friends in Southern California have thus explained to me Day of Atonement.

Just now I checked that Bar-Ilan Website and found the excerpt I have pasted below. The link to the full article follows. The apparent contradiction or amplification is interesting.

Pax

vM

Kol Nidre Prayer

The Kol Nidre Prayer opens the prayers of the night of Yom Kippur. The essence of Kol Nidre is a declaration that even if one expresses - by word or deed - some thought or action which are incompatible with the outlook of a believing Jew, that everyone should know that he does really mean them and in his heart he remains true to G-d's Torah. It is said that the prayer originated during the time when Jews in Spain were coerced into accepting Christianity. They would gather together in secret on Yom Kippur and declare that their entire Christian existence is a falsehood, not of their choosing, and in their hearts they are faithful to Judaism.