I thought Buddhism isn’t really a religion at all; do they have a deity?
That’s a basically Western quibble.
It arose, as best I understand, as a reform upon Hindu faith. Gautama Buddha hated the idols of Hindu faith. He came up with a philosophical system that is almost deity-less, but not quite. Its goal is to achieve an extinction of desire, which Buddha viewed as evil due to the inevitable frustration it leads to, through oneness with a “higher principle.” They call this nirvana, which isn’t bliss as commonly viewed in Western eyes, but a kind of anesthesia.
It’s wrong. Christ brings Christians a purified desire and a reconciliation with heaven, not an extinguished desire.
But as far as keeping civic order and social pleasantness, one could do a lot worse.