Deification trivializes the message.

When we turn teachers or leaders into Gods, we trivialize their messages and their work. As example, consider Siddhartha Gautama, who was later called the Buddha, or Enlightened One. He was an ordinary man, a minor son of a regional kinglet, much like a mayor in a modern city, who left the life his parents arranged for him and pursued enlightenment. He found it, after years of thought and meditation, and then taught the method of attaining enlightenment to all those who would listen.

Later followers elevated him to some sort of Godhood. By glorifying and deifying their teacher, they raised their own status and authority. They made legends of miracles attending his birth and death. He became The Buddha, as if he were the only person who had attained enlightenment. What a farce. The followers, seeking their own self-aggrandizement, missed the entire point, which is (of course) that absolutely anyone can attain enlightenment. Buddha-hood is for every person that is willing to achieve it, not for divinities or deities. There are undoubtedly many Buddhas in this world now, but real Buddhas do not seek power, position, recognition or authority. Why should they? Becoming enlightened is hard work and it is not achieved overnight. It can't be granted to others or handed out as a reward. Everyone has to search diligently for their own enlightenment, and there is no shortcut.

But the point is that enlightenment is for everyone, not special people or godlets. Christianity shows the same pattern as Buddhism. The followers elevate their leader to the status of a god, and then worship, as if that were what the religion is about. They miss the point. Christ (another title, not a name) taught behaviors and attitudes that lead to enlightenment. The heart of Christianity is compassion, as it is in Buddhism. That heart does not lie in rituals or titles or churches. Ridding oneself of the selfishness that allows us to see others as different is hard work. Literally treating the other as if the other were our self is a hard task. Everything else is worthless posturing.