Why do religious people desperately want to class Atheism as a religion?

[Kingpin]

I wouldn't totally agree with that.  I do think Gnostic Atheism makes a claim. 

Not the type of claim you are inferring. Gnostic atheism is a layered claim. They are first unconvinced with the unevidenced claims, and then decide a state using the likelihood.

This differs significantly from it's theistic counterpart. The gnostic theist claims convincing evidence of a god but an agnostic theist only claims unconvincing evidence of their god of choice, relying instead on pure faith. Because "convincing evidence" cannot equal "unconvincing evidence" they are separate paths as apposed to the additive atheistic path.

Sure but what some see as "convincing" others see as "unconvincing".  it's purely subjective.