The implication here is that the results constitute religious discrimination. And that may be. I don't know. I don't know because the people who wrote this article, and many others like it, have seemingly made no effort to ascertain whether that was the motivation of those who voted against the zoning change. 

Given the small number of voters, you'd think it'd be fairly easy to simply ask them how they voted and why.  It might add credence to the notion it had something to do with religion, and then again it might not. Other explanations might emerge. Frankly not everyone wants to live close to a cemetery. Some see it as creepy. Some worry about the leaching of toxins and bio-hazards from cemeteries onto their own properties. Some worry about traffic, commercialization and the impact on property values.

Just leave open the possibility that not everyone who opposes a land use different from the existing, intended, approved one is a bigot.