I'm not sure I agree with the article. American Calvinism, and Calvinists in general, have historically been very iconoclastic. Reformed Baptists have had probably the biggest Calvinist influence in America, as they are the closest to the Puritans in doctrine and practice. Presbyterians, the Dutch Reformed, and other Reformed groups in the US, for the most part rejected, and some continue to reject, any kind of image or symbol of any kind, including the cross. The large mainline Calvinist denominations-like the PCUSA-began building huge elaborate churches and reintroducing ceremony and liturgy in their churches in the late 19th Century, but the core of Calvinism in America has always been very low-church.

Calvinism has had a huge influence on America. The First Great Awakening was a Calvinist movement and almost all Christians in the US until the 1850's were some variety of Calvinist. Arminianism, Lutheranism, and Catholicism didn't have much of a role in American religion until the late 1800's. I would argue that while Calvinism has had the biggest impact on American notions of work, honesty, individualism and independence, and morality (see Max Weber's "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism"), Arminianism has had more theological influence on American Lutherans. Many Lutherans-and even Catholics-might use language such as being "saved" or "accepting Christ as my personal Lord and Savior", they might have some kind of assurance of salvation-words and phrases that aren't anathema to those belief systems in and of themselves, but they have acquired a theological implication that is distinctly Arminian-a soteriology most Lutherans and Catholics would regard as heresy.

The crucifix was probably abandoned by Protestants because the main purpose of a crucifix in a Catholic church is to be a symbol of veneration for the priest while he says the Words of Institution in the Mass. Catholics believe that Christ did not die once for all mankind, but that the crucifixion that occurred 2,000 years ago on calvary was God offering us his son to re-crucify whenever we get together to have Mass. The idea is that the priest is in the shoes of Christ, as "another Christ", re-enacting the crucifixion of Christ through the consecration of the Eucharist and offering that sacrifice to God in atonement for our sins. This is also why technically, Lutherans and other protestants don't actually have altars. They have communion tables. An altar is something on which a sacrifice takes place. So by rejecting the altar in favor of the communion table, they reject the notion that the Eucharist is a sacrifice generally, and by replacing the crucifix with a cross, they are rejecting the notion that the Eucharist is a sacrifice of Christ in particular.

This is also why Protestants call their ministers "pastors". They believe in "the priesthood of all believers". The priesthood is not exclusive to the clergy. In clerical hierarchy, the head of a group of priests in the pastor, and so Protestants call their ministers pastors because they are over their congregation-each member of whom is a priest, whereas Catholics have pastors, who are heads of a parish of priests, and the priests are over the congregations they serve.