From "Toward a Meaning of Buddhism for Americans," an essay by Philip Kapleau:

Among Buddhists he [Buddha Shakyamuni] is revered not as a deity or a savior who takes upon himself the sins of others, but as a fully awakened, fully perfected human being who attained the liberation of body and mind through his own efforts and not by the grace of a supernatural being.

Buddhism thus has an appeal to the person who knows there is no God controlling and directing our lives, but knows there is something behind this world we inhabit. Only through our own efforts will we discover it. I think of the phrase "self reliance."