Many varieties of Buddhist religion have sprung from Gotama’s teachings. In his own time, he must have been seen as a reaction to established religions; the earliest texts mention Brahmanism (root of the complex of strands now known as Hinduism) & Jainism most frequently. Whether his teachings should really be considered a religion, as such, is a vexed question, the kind of proliferation of thought that Gotama saw as endless, pointless, & a source of dukkha. His teachings offer a solution to the human existential problem; philosophies & religions also do that, as do many trends in current thought, such as secular humanism, & peculiar blends of science, technology & materialism (sci-tech-mat). Most religions—including Buddhist varieties—offer some form of the sacred, ideas to be accepted uncritically without proofs, although this is sometimes subtle & hidden. All of them attempt to do terror management. I believe Gotama’s teachings can be lived without resorting to anything like the sacred, which makes them more suitable in our current skeptical, science-based culture. The extreme fear & hatred of “the other” we see among people who use traditional religions to manage their fear of death seems to be increasing as science & technology weaken the ability to believe ideas that don’t square with natural science.