In my understanding of Buddha’s teachings, where it’s a form of self-help and psychotherapy, anyone can then be a Buddhist. They’re simply ideas and meditations on the world and are free from religious doctrine.

The ‘religious’ aspect of Buddhism came long after Buddha. Buddha uses religious language in his lectures but only as metaphor and analogy. 

Here’s the [dhammapada](http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2017/2017-h/2017-h.htm) 

And an article that summarizes [the eightfold path](https://tricycle.org/magazine/noble-eightfold-path/) 

It just doesn’t make sense to me that these ideas are in anyway ‘religious’. Most religions even share these ideas. 

They’re just good ideas on how to be a better person, but, the human need to label and identify so we can belong to idealogical structures is not something Buddha agreed with. He specifically warns against this kind of attachment.