An alternative to atheist thought

[mordant]

I doubt many have achieved [enlightenment] as well.  But I don't think the achievement is the point.

Well you can do the whole "the journey is the point" thing if you want but the offered value proposition is freedom from suffering and the motivation to believe in the system is to gain its benefits.

At least Buddhism is honest: it tells you right up front that it will take "countless" rebirths to get there with a high possibility of various setbacks. And that's where it loses me at least on that value proposition.

Now there are ways in which it works as a self-help methodology, one of any number of things that can make your life a few percentage points less sucky. Learning to let go of desire / attachment to specific outcomes, flexing in response to life rather than expecting the inverse and accepting the constancy of change (impermanence) are good life lessons and well presented by Buddhism, and best of all don't require all the ritual and cruft of the full blown religion.