Ask An Atheist: Why aren’t Atheists included in significant memorial services?

I was struck by the image of the latest 9/11 ceremony at the World Trade Center Memorial this last Sept. 11, where there were assembled a long line of representatives of all manner of religious denominations, directly introduced as being of so many faiths.  Well, I imagine there were many atheists and agnostics who perished that day, but no one there to represent them.

There are certainly nonbelieving veterans (I know quite a few personally) so an inclusive commemoration of that too should reach out to secular groups in their area.

The simplest answer as to why this hasn’t happened before is that the groups who organize these events are most likely only to think of others within their own frame.  They conceptualize such solemn occasions in their religious context, and it may literally not occur to them that the “not in that category” are real human beings with as much serious regard for this as they.