Cite as: 512 U. S. 687 (1994)
Opinion of Souter, J.
governmental and religious functions' " by delegating "important, discretionary governmental powers" to religious bodies, thus impermissibly entangling government and religion. 459 U. S., at 126, 127 (quoting School Dist. of Abington Township v. Schempp, supra, at 222); see also Lemon v. Kurtzman, supra, at 613. And it lacked "any 'effective means of guaranteeing' that the delegated power '[would] be used exclusively for secular, neutral, and nonideological purposes,' " 459 U. S., at 125 (quoting Committee for Public Ed. & Religious Liberty v. Nyquist, supra, at 780); this, along with the "significant symbolic benefit to religion" associated with "the mere appearance of a joint exercise of legislative authority by Church and State," led the Court to conclude that the statute had a " 'primary' and 'principal' effect of advancing religion," 459 U. S., at 125-126; see also Lemon v. Kurtzman, supra, at 612. Comparable constitutional problems inhere in the statute before us.
A
Larkin presented an example of united civic and religious authority, an establishment rarely found in such straightforward form in modern America, cf. Wolman v. Walter, 433 U. S. 229, 263 (1977) (Powell, J., concurring in part, concurring in judgment in part, and dissenting in part), and a violation of "the core rationale underlying the Establishment Clause," 459 U. S., at 126. See also Allegheny County v. American Civil Liberties Union, Greater Pittsburgh Chapter, 492 U. S. 573, 590-591 (1989) (Establishment Clause prevents delegating governmental power to religious group); id., at 660 (Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment in part and dissenting in part) (same); Everson v. Board of Ed. of Ewing, 330 U. S. 1, 15-16 (1947) (Establishment Clause prevents State from "participat[ing] in the affairs of any religious organizations or groups and vice versa"); Torcaso v. Watkins, 367 U. S. 488, 493-494 (1961) (same).
697
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