> formal rigor or scientific analysis
This may be a bit philosophical, but couldn't "formal methods" and the "scientific method" also be considered a best practice? (and thus susceptible to becoming a cult?)
Throughout the history of science, there has been many methods for doing science that have since been revolutionized or abandoned (e.g. cosmology, non-Euclidean geometry, eugenics, quantum mechanics). Thomas Kuhn is a notable writer on such paradigm shifts in the history of science. [1]