Hallo my friend. Thanks for the question. There are a lot of people who prefer to strip away the "supernatural" and religious elements from the Buddha's teaching and then say that "Buddhism" is not a religion at all but a rationalistic philsophy. The fact is that Buddhism contains both religion and philosophy. But to say that Buddhism as a whole (including the Mahayana expression of it) is not a religion is simply inaccurate and wrong. Hope that helps! Best wishes from Tony.