Mercer County commissioners adopted a resolution Thursday supporting a proposed Constitutional amendment that would allow prayer back in public schools.

The resolution does not mandate school prayer in Mercer County, but backs the legislation on Capitol Hill.

The proposed amendment, U.S. House Joint Resolution 81, is currently being debated in a House subcommittee, according to a congressional staffer in Washington.

"We feel very strongly about this," said Chairman Commissioner Cloyd E. "Gene" Brenneman after the board voted unanimously to support the resolution.

The proposed amendment would allow students to pray in school if they chose and claims students have a right to pray and recognize their religious beliefs in school.

Mercer County is the ninth Pennsylvania county to adopt a resolution supporting school prayer, Brenneman said.

The House bill and the movement to support it were the brainchild of Washington County (Pa.) Commissioner Diana Irey. Among area congressmen, the bill was co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart but not by U.S. Reps. Phil English or Jim Traficant.

Ms. Irey initiated the bill and a mass mailing targeting 3,300 county and city governments across the country. The mailing effort took the help of about 100 Washington County volunteers.

Ms. Irey sent Mercer County at least two letters. "At a time when our nation has seen the destruction caused by terrorism and has answered the call to come together, stand together and pray together, let us keep the momentum going," she wrote in a letter dated March 18.