Buddhism IS a religion, although it has never worshiped Buddha (quite the opposite) or had any other deity on offer. Divorcing parts of Buddhist practice from the Buddhist religion is also done, but it's disingenuous as an unqualified statement to say that Buddhism is not a religion.

Buddhist has a system of temples and ascetic clerics called monks that are distinct from its laity, it has an imagined cosmology full of supernatural beings and realms, deep and honored traditions, holy books (the Pali Canon), an afterlife concept, and most other trappings of religion. Like the Taoists and some Quakers and a few others, most Buddhist sects don't have a deity but deity-worship is, contrary to popular notions, not central to the concept of religion -- just a common feature of it.

The more I learned about Buddhism, I came to realize this. It is a Tao, a way of life and does not require deity worship, as Zen, a somewhat more disciplined form, does neither.

There is a grace of life in Buddhism. The Peace of living in the here and now.

or conversely if you are an evangelical

Well, at least a practice tries to make Christians better. Something has to be done before they totally destroy society.