After a ban on organised prayers at school sports events in the United States, there have been calls for "spontaneous" prayer.

As schools have returned for the autumn term, so too has the battle between campaigners who want a more prominent place for religion in education and those who want a clearer separation between church and state.

Earlier this year a court ruling prevented high school football games beginning with a prayer - on the grounds that state schools are not allowed to promote religion.

But in an attempt to hold public prayers and stay within the law, there have been calls for players and spectators to "spontaneously" begin praying at the same time before games.

Bible belt

Among the promoters of prayers before school sport has been Paul Ott, the presenter of a radio talk show programme, Listen to the Eagle, broadcast in "Bible belt" states such as Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee.

"Our country has taken God, prayer and the Ten Commandments out of every place it can be taken from, and now it has ruled that we cannot have prayer or religious songs even at ballgames," says a statement on the station's website.

"Let's put a stop right here and now to this serious threat to our great country that God has given us or we will lose it.

"Please form your prayer groups for your ballgames and call your friends and relatives all over this country and ask them to do the same."

But there have been claims that organised spontaneity is a sham and that such prayers would still contravene the law.

"It seems to me that a planned spontaneous prayer cannot be spontaneous and it violates the court's ruling.

"If this planned, spontaneous prayer happens, it forces everyone there to hear that prayer or to participate in it," said David Ingebretsen for the American Civil Liberties Union.