Cite as: 530 U. S. 793 (2000)
Syllabus
Scattered de minimis statutory violations of the restrictions on content, discovered and remedied by the relevant authorities themselves before this litigation began almost 15 years ago, should not be elevated to such a level as to convert an otherwise unobjectionable parishwide program into a law that has the effect of advancing religion. Pp. 829-835.
(f) To the extent that Meek and Wolman conflict with the foregoing analysis, they are overruled. Pp. 835-836.
Justice O'Connor, joined by Justice Breyer, concluded that Agostini v. Felton, 521 U. S. 203, controls the constitutional inquiry presented here, and requires reversal of the Fifth Circuit's judgment that the Chapter 2 program is unconstitutional as applied in Jefferson Parish. To the extent Meek v. Pittenger, 421 U. S. 349, and Wolman v. Walter, 433 U. S. 229, are inconsistent with the Court's judgment today, they should be overruled. Pp. 836-867.
(a) The plurality announces a rule of unprecedented breadth for the evaluation of Establishment Clause challenges to government school-aid programs. That rule is particularly troubling because, first, its treatment of neutrality comes close to assigning that factor singular importance in the future adjudication of Establishment Clause challenges to school-aid programs. Although neutrality is important, see, e. g., Agostini, 521 U. S., at 228, 231-232, the Court has never held that a government-aid program passes constitutional muster solely because of the neutral criteria it employs as a basis for distributing aid. Rather, neutrality has heretofore been only one of several factors the Court considers. See, e. g., id., at 226-228. Second, the plurality's approval of actual diversion of government aid to religious indoctrination is in tension with this Court's precedents. See, e. g., id., at 226-227. Actual diversion is constitutionally impermissible. E. g., Bowen v. Kendrick, 487 U. S. 589, 621-622, 624. The Court should not treat a per-capita-aid program like Chapter 2 the same as the true private choice programs approved in Witters v. Washington Dept. of Servs. for Blind, 474 U. S. 481, and Zobrest v. Catalina Foothills School Dist., 509 U. S. 1. Because Agostini represents the Court's most recent attempt to devise a general framework for approaching questions concerning neutral school-aid programs, and involved an Establishment Clause challenge to a school-aid program closely related to the instant program, the Agostini criteria should control here. Pp. 837-844.
(b) Under Agostini, the Court asks whether the government acted with the purpose of advancing or inhibiting religion and whether the aid has the "effect" of doing so. 521 U. S., at 222-223. The specific criteria used to determine an impermissible effect have changed in recent cases, see id., at 223, which disclose three primary criteria to guide the determination: (1) whether the aid results in governmental indoctri-
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