alternatehistory.com

In the late 1800s many German philosophers became interested in Buddhism, but they didn't like the way that people actually went about practicing it, regarding it as too superstitious. They proceeded to strip many things they saw as too superstitious out of Buddhism, including the deities and other supernatural creatures present in most traditional forms, developing what they viewed as the "pure essence" of Buddhism. That has had something of a lasting impact on Western Buddhism, but some of that is probably because there wasn't much knowledge of Buddhism in the West to begin with.

Would it have been possible for this to have been done with other religions as well? I imagine it would be easier with those not as familiar to the West (as Buddhism was) and historical ones, but could atheistic Abrahamic philosophies/religions develop as well? Furthermore, could any of these atheistic religions become as popular in the West as Buddhism?
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