Why Do Religious People Discriminate Against Nonbelievers?

I know this story is not precisely current, but I think it is worth talking about since it addresses an ongoing issue - and a big reason  for the existence of this blog.  Once again, as is frightening common in the United States, people who are not part of a mainstream religion were marginalized and ignored in a situation that was made out to be an occasion meant for all - the Memorial 

"Healing Our City" The misleadingly named "interfaith" service for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings - which was held in a Catholic church, and featured the singing of religious hymns and readings from the Bible - included remarks from Protestant, Greek Orthodox, Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim leaders, as well as President Obama and the governor of Massachusetts.  

According to Greg Epstein, author of Good Without God, despite making several attempts by The Secular Coalition for Massachusetts and the Boston Atheists to have the nonbeliever community represented, and despite the fact that at least two of the victims are not religious and have served as volunteers for the Harvard Humanist Community, and despite the fact that WeAreAtheism.com, the Boston Atheists, the Humanist Community at Harvard, and the Secular Coalition for Massachusetts raised and donated more than $27,000 to assist victims, representation as part of the community was denied them.

Edwina Rogers, executive director of the Secular Coalition for America said:

The very purpose of  these types [sic] of programs are put on is to comfort the victims, their families and the community at large,” Rogers said. “To exclude the very community that at least some of the victims were a part of not only alienates the victims themselves, but also Boston’s vibrant nontheistic community and the nearly 20 percent of Americans who choose not to identify with a religion. We are grieving too.

This repeated ostracizing of rational thinking people is disrespectful of non-theists of all stripes.  What is worse is the further discrimination and hate I see in comments and discussions on every story of this sort.  The nastiness ranges from grade-school name-calling to angry wishes:

So, some atheists are mad because they weren't mentioned during a religious event? Seriously? Crybabies.

*

There will be another tragedy soon atheists can use to promote their cause. As painful as the snub may have seemed at the time. They are getting plenty of mileage out of it now. I think the vigil was about the victims not atheists or any other group seeking inclusion in a public event. 

*

Hows about just going to the bloody service and keeping your belief or lack thereof to yourself . Obviously there are many Catholics in Boston , if they want to pray ,then so be it , they don't need atheists in uniform to stick their non-belief in their faces . Just go and be silent if you don't believe in God or prayer . Pay your respects without wearing and advertising your philosophy . 

Both of the above comments were made by a person who then went on to lie:

...Believe me when I tell you I have nothing against atheists, but atheists make up a minuscule portion of the population. The powers that be decided to leave them out probably to avoid controversy. 

So she spews hate and hurtful words against people - championing the cause of discrimination - and then tries to absolve herself of her bigotry by saying she has nothing against atheists.  How do people like her not see the idiocy of that contradiction?  

Why does it never occur to small-minded people like this to replace the word "atheists" with the word "Catholics" or "Methodists" or "Mormons," and see how the article looks to them.  

Love, care, sorrow, pain, fear, anxiety, and sympathy are products of religion.  If anything, behavior like that illustrated by "religious" people in the discussions I have read and been a part enhances my belief that people who are not in the clutches of religion tend to be more compassionate and sympathetic and loving in times of emotional need like this because they are not caught up in judging people who don't think like they do.  

As usual, the religious acted as if they have some privilege and co-opted the memorial, pretending that everyone in the country thinks as they do, shoving their beliefs down the throats of everyone, and as soon as we - the ignored, slighted, and discriminated against - mention that fact, we are attacked and belittled.