Religion

If something doesn't include hocus pocus, then it's not a religion. So there may be some form of Eastern philosophy that people associate with Buddhism that isn't actually a religion, but mainstream Buddism includes hocus pocus nonsense regardless of whether or not it includes a deity. As such it still includes the conveniently unverifiable promise of reward after death in exchange for behavior modification in the present. As such it's still as susceptible to corruption by those who want to manipulate the credulous. That which can be destroyed by the truth, should be, and for good reason.