There certainly is humor in religion, within good taste as with any kind of humor, and there is no ban on allowing funny cards in the Religious category.
The Please Note said:
Adding this cover text does not make this image speak to Easter Religious as it is still primarily Humor. We have already approved a near identical image card for Easter Humor 574532.
Some major elements at play apparently had more to do with overuse than this card not being "religious enough" as here was the inside verse:
"Get there early to make sure you get a good seat! God bless you and have a Happy Easter!"
1) this similar image was used to create over 90 different cards:
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/shopping/cb.asp?keywords=tom%20rent%20easter
%20couple%20color&page=1 The relationship specific ones are obviously ok as well as those that address a specific literal subcategory like Missing you on Easter, In Remembrance on Easter, etc. But outside of that things start to get a little blurry and some limits do need to be placed on near identical image reuse as close as we can in reference to the 3x image reuse guideline.
2) as well as this near identical card already approved for the Easter >> Religious category:
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/-Easter+Color+Religious+Blessing+-+Retro+FUN
NY-greeting+card-574540?pid=574540 and this identical image already approved for Easter >> Humor and Easter >> Vintage:
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/shopping/cb.asp?keyword=574532 It was felt that these two cards would be nearly identical in the same category which was not ideal.
2) Doreen hit the nail on the head... the reviewers are keen to what they feel to be the best fitting & most likely category, in this case Easter >> Humor and Easter >> Vintage would best serve this card, however you already had near identical image cards in those categories.
I think the overall challenge for the review team when a large number of near identical image cards has been submitted is to discern among those that have different twists on a verse/wording that puts them in the same category/subcategory and the different text doesn't necessarily differentiate itself from its look a likes.
My best advice would be to pick the strongest verse, joke or punch line for a given image and let it stand strong in the category versus creating several iterations within the same category which has them compete among each other and perhaps dilute the shopper's perception of a unique & clever card.
Let us know if you'd like to swap out card #574540 for this card #574541 in the Easter >> Religious category.
Hope that makes sense. Let me know if you want to talk about it offline.
PS: we decline very few cards