Senate Approves Measure to Let Military Wear Religious Apparel

The Senate, putting aside objections raised by the Pentagon, voted Friday to supersede a 1986 Supreme Court decision and allow uniformed military personnel to wear the yarmulke or other religious apparel as long as it does not interfere with their duties.

By a vote of 55 to 42, the proposal authored by Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) was adopted as an amendment to a $303-billion defense spending bill for fiscal 1988. The House had earlier approved a similar proposal.

The vote reflected a reversal of sentiment in the Senate, which had voted narrowly a year ago to reject a slightly stiffer measure. In its 5-4 decision upholding the military’s right to bar religious apparel, the Supreme Court said the issue should be decided by Congress.

Under the measure, the military must allow religious apparel to be worn except when it would “interfere with the performance of the members’ military duties,” or in instances where the secretary of defense rules that the item in question is not “neat and conservative.”