Simcoe North MPP Garfield Dunlop is singing hallelujah over a decision to preserve the Lord’s Prayer at Queen’s Park.

An all-party compromise reached Thursday will see the Christian prayer retained in the Ontario Legislature with the condition that prayers from other faiths be recited on a rotating basis.

A moment of silent reflection will also be added to the mix to accommodate those of no religious faith, Dunlop said.

“We consider this a real win,” he added.

The decision follows a lengthy and often heated debate over the appropriateness of a government body reciting exclusively a Christian prayer in an otherwise multicultural province.

Premier Dalton McGuinty in a letter to party leaders earlier this year announced a plan to replace the Lord's Prayer with one "that better reflects our diversity."

The proposal sparked a flood of correspondence from Ontarians upset by the prospect of the government doing away with the long-standing tradition, Dunlop said.

“We had thousands of petitions, and the highest percentage said they wanted it to stay,” he said.

Dunlop sat as a member of an all-party committee tasked with exploring McGuinty’s controversial proposal.

The agreement reached this week should satisfy all sides, he told Simcoe.com.

“That was our goal from day one, that we retained the Lord’s Prayer and other religions can have their prayers said,” he added. “We don’t have a problem with that. I’m really proud of it. It is exactly what I wanted.”

Many municipal council chambers eliminated the Christian prayer several years ago following a court challenge launched by a Penetanguishene man.

Henry Freitag argued that the prayer had no place inside a public facility.

Dunlop said he was “surprised” that McGuinty was absent for Thursday’s vote.

“He started this whole ruckus,” he added.

The job of choosing alternate prayers for the daily rotation will fall to the Speaker, who will do so based on the demographic makeup of Ontario’s population, Dunlop said.

The motion passed in the legislature yesterday reads as follows:

“That the Speaker commence each meeting day of the assembly by reciting the Lord’s Prayer, followed by another prayer, or the presentation of a verse or passage, or call for a moment of silent reflection, or any such similar activity which, in the opinion of the Speaker, will serve to reflect over time the general demographic composition of this Chamber and of the Province of Ontario.”