How to survive Buddhism ? Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha
I see one aspect of your question is practice of rites and rituals much like other religions. This is also important for Buddhism to be socially and culturally integrated, but this does not give you liberation.

Secular Buddhists strip Buddhism of some of the aspects which cannot be conventionally seen (e,g, other realms, life after death) and perhaps some of the aspects not in line with western culture (e.g. respect to the Triple Gem). Accepting and dismissing things beyond your comprehension is a mistake, so would be accepting things which you cannot empirically verify. Until you know something at an experiential level it is best to set them aside.

There were many Buddhist sites in India which perhaps became sites for other religions.