why is buddhism not always thought to be a religion?

It's mainly from Westerners who can't wrap their heads around any religion that doesn't fit with their Western concept of what religion is.

Also a lot of Westeners like to call themselve Buddhists without necessarily following the religious aspects of it.

The following is a quote taken from a Zen teacher with whom I have become acquainted. I hope he will not mind me using it. It can be found response to a similar question asked here:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AnRt1...

"Modern people have all kinds of ideas about this - and, of course, there's no definitive answer.

"So it might be useful to understand how the Buddha thought about his teachings - he was, after all, the founder of what we now call "Buddhism."

"The Buddha referred to his teachings as a "system of training." The elements of this training are:

- Ethical living

- Development of wisdom

- Meditation practice

"A person who sincerely engages in this system of training grows in wisdom, compassion, kindness, equanimity, generosity and other qualities that form the basis of all true spirituality. That's the point of Buddhism."

I sincerely hope this helps to answer your question.

A religion can be more of a philosophy if it only speaks to how you should live or what you should consider important.

A religion like Christianity for example says way too much about "what's real" to be considered a philosophy. For example it defines a god character, and places like heaven and hell.

Mainly due to people not wanting to accept that such a logical thing could be called a "religion".

Well, that and that the questions of the existence of gods, souls, and an afterlife are completely left to the individual to define.

Religions require belief in stuff that's not possible. Some forms of buddhism frown on this kind of malarkey.

Because they don't emphasize the existence of god(s). They do address positions on what is holy, unholy, and what happens to us after we die, so it is a religion. The same can be said of Taoism.

Religion needs a skydaddy. Buddhism doesn't have one.

i don't know of any philosophy rituals and submission without question

their is logic to it while religion...you can see where im going with this

they have no god