Buddha says: The gift of religion exceeds all gifts; the sweetness of religion exceeds all sweetness; the delight in religion exceeds all delights; the extinction of thirst overcomes all pain. Verse- 49: Chapter 48: THE DHAMMAPADA.
Gospel of Buddha
http://reluctant-messenger.com/gospel_buddha/
Paarsurrey comments: Atheism/Agnosticism/Skepticism do not subscribe to any religion; they rather abhor religion. Hence, they dont belong to Buddha and Buddha does not belong to them.
Please correct me if I am wrong.
Im a bit late to the conversation, but I would like to comment on the OP.
Others have already said it, Gautama Buddha is referring to Dharma here, not "religion" as we know it, so this claim is null and void in this context.
There are religions that are atheist, one do not require a god to believe in the transcendental or have a spiritual path or religion. The other Indian religion that is atheist is Jainism. While Jainism basically states that each individual's soul is basically pure and unlimited, much like God, there is not a creator God because there is not a first cause and the universe is seen to be self governing. Also I believe that there is atheist Vedanta, someone can correct me if I am wrong about that.
For me at least, it is debatable whether Gautama Buddha denies the transcendental and that which is beyond conditions and concepts, similar to some concepts of God, he most certainly does deny a
Creator God, because there is not a first cause. Based in dependent origination, all phenomena arise dependently on various phenomena and nothing is inherent or independent.
The closest thing to God in the various schools of Buddhadharma is the
Adi-Buddha or
Primordial Buddha. This idea is not accepted by Theravada, and is mostly found in Vajrayana.
Adi-Buddha
But we should be careful when approaching the idea of Adi-Buddha to avoid as taking it in the traditional sense of "God." Adi-Buddha is not something that is different or separate from any other sentient being like us, and I do not think it is meant to be taken as a concrete inherent entity.