I'm not sure I completely understand the article. I'm fairly new to Buddhism, but I thought there were many different "branches" just like there are many "branches" of the major religions. It seems that some branches of Buddhism do have more superstition and ritual in them. So I guess it depends on what the author of the article was really looking at. My understanding is that the basis of all practices of Buddhism is the same - the Four Noble Truths and the Eight Fold Path. All of which have nothing to do with superstition or the supernatural. So I guess my rambling here is trying to understand why the article was written in the first place - they seem to get to that above point in the end anyway.