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The U.S. Supreme Court jumps back into the culture wars Monday in a case that involves a football coach's asserted right to kneel and pray on the 50-yard line at the conclusion of a public school football game.

Joseph Kennedy, a coach for the Bremerton, Wash., High School varsity and JV football teams began praying with his players before and after games in 2008. At the end of a game, he would take a knee and say a prayer with his players at midfield.

By the 2015 season, Kennedy was often joined at the 50-yard line as well by players from the opposing team. Indeed, it was an approving comment by an opposing coach that finally alerted school district officials to the practice.

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"I fought and defended the Constitution, and the thought of leaving the field of battle where the guys just played and having to go and hide my faith because it was uncomfortable to somebody — that's just not America," he said in an interview with NPR.

So Kennedy returned to his praying practice right after the game, mainly at away games, and with little fanfare. By the time of the big homecoming game, Kennedy had retained lawyers from the First Liberty Institute. In a letter to school officials, they said that the coach had a constitutional right to pray on the 50-yard line at the end of the game, and that students should be free to voluntarily join in.

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The school district took the position that while it wished to accommodate Kennedy's private religious expression, it could not allow his midfield post-game prayers because such a public display at a school event would be perceived as the school's endorsement of religion.

Two weeks later, the superintendent placed Kennedy on paid administrative leave, citing his failure to abide by the district's policy against encouraging or discouraging student religious expression. Kennedy did not apply for a new contract the following year.

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No good cause — or bad cause — goes unlitigated, of course. Kennedy sued the school district, contending that it violated his First Amendment right to free speech and the free exercise of religion. He lost in the lower courts, but appealed to the Supreme Court, where the justices hear arguments Monday.

"What's at stake here is really the ability of teachers and coaches to engage in religious exercise while on duty," says former Solicitor General Paul Clement, who is representing Coach Kennedy in the Supreme Court. It is "established beyond doubt at this point that students are allowed to engage in a degree of religious exercise on school grounds," he notes, adding that this case "will clarify the law [as to] whether teachers and coaches have comparable rights to students."

But the school district and its supporters contest this narrative.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Not too sure where the confusion comes from here. American Citizens who are under the protection of the Constitution of the United States of America voluntarily meet at midfield at the end of a game to practice their faith by praying. There is no mandate here to adhere to it, nor is there an endorsement of any kind other than a government which embraces the free exercise of religion endorsement as it will, and without government sanction or mandate to adhere to it.

The establishment clause was NEVER intended to be a devise to make war upon the church, and especially individual citizens and their right to practice their own religion. It was only intended to keep the government out of the business of religion and especially preferring one to another, but NEVER was it intended to alienate or wipe out religion from individuals or prevent people from practicing their religion in the public sector. Those who have an axe to grind with religion have tried to argue that point for their own cause, but it was never the intention of Thomas Jefferson who penned it.