Enterprise chapel in use
Symbols behind the lectern in the chapel
A chapel was a room inside a larger facility where weddings were performed. One could also retreat to a chapel for solace and prayer.
Constitution-class starships had a chapel onboard that was used to perform wedding ceremonies. The chapel included a candelabra, decorative plants, a lectern, and television camera devices so that such ceremonies might be carried on viewing screens aboard the ship.
In 2266, the wedding of Angela Martine and Robert Tomlinson was scheduled to be held in the USS Enterprise's chapel, but the ceremony was interrupted by an alert. Later, after Tomlinson's death, Martine sought solace there. Captain James T. Kirk offered her his comfort. (TOS: "Balance of Terror")
In 2373, a hologram of Leonardo da Vinci suggested "Catarina", in need of guidance, visit the Santa Croce chapel with him and pray to God. Janeway declined that option. (VOY: "Scorpion")
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While the term "chapel" is, in the modern day, usually a religious location, the Martine-Tomlinson marriage was obviously a secular one, as it was officiated by a captain rather than any kind of religious official.
The revised final draft script of "Balance of Terror" described the chapel in that episode as "simple... a chapel designed to accommodate all faiths of all planets." However, two symbols are visible behind the lectern in the chapel, one highly reminiscent of a cross (a highly prominent symbol in Christianity).
According to the published blueprints used for the production of "Balance of Terror", the Enterprise's chapel was a redress of the briefing room. (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, pp. 170-171). According to The Star Trek Compendium, 4th ed., p. 40, this set was incorrectly identified as being the set typically used as the ship's transporter room.
Once, when a young boy asked Patrick Stewart if there was a chapel aboard the USS Enterprise-D, Stewart replied that there were none because rituals and similar ceremonies didn't need to be performed in one fixed locale and could be performed in the quarters onboard the vessel. [1]