So, these are things that religious people in general have adopted? Kinda like "Best Practices" in business?
If so, if you can point to an indication of that kind of support I'd appreciate it.
If not, then I'm really looking for something different.
One problem with your request is that you can't really treat religious people as a monolithic group. They have wildly different beliefs and different goals.
The US Department of Defense and a state (not national) welfare department only have a few things in common. The main one is that they are part of some government.
Yet, I can guarantee that both of them follow similar management standards and quality controls at the base level. The main differences show up in narrow projects and often are based on other concerns unique to the organizations. Why? Because I've dealt with both groups and read the contracts.
So, I'm not interested in what they can't share -- that's a given -- but what they do share. There should be substantial overlap if they are developing knowledge bases or practices that mean anything.
Institutional standards and growth in knowledge are the main indications that separate the professionals from the amateurs -- if they are plumbing pipes or launching payloads into space.
For example, the Southern Baptist Convention is quite concerned with 'hot button' issues and has done a fantastic job of driving those issues to the forefront of US politics. Meanwhile, the Latter Day Saints have added the practice of post-humous baptism, which allows them to save souls after you're dead. Less inward focused, you have the non-violent movements in India led by Gandhi, eventually influencing MLK. I'm sure you'd find a lot of the goals and concerns of many (if not all) religious groups to be silly, but they have found ways of achieving those goals.
Those limited institutional goals, often one-off and episodic. They don't develop standards or gain general knowledge.
For example, I'm not asking about the equivalent of the plumbing contractor's efforts to do something innovative for one customer's hotel chain. I'm interested in what that plumbing contractor either learns from an industry group to manage and improve all jobs, or what they have done to improve the knowledge and practices of the plumbing industry.
(To see why this is a bit of an odd question, invert it. What things have non-religious people in general adopted?)
I'm puzzled why you think this is a strange question. Have you ever dealt with institutional knowledge and standards? Have you ever been trained to make sure you follow those standards to be licenced or to practice your career? Have you ever proposed standards and seen them adopted?
If you aren't in a career (white or blue collar) that makes these issues explicit, then that would make some sense. Yet, I can't think of anything -- including fast food chains -- that aren't highly systematized or constantly adapting to new changes as they learn what to do and how to do it better.
For example, I've taken courses on CMM and CMMI and have implemented each at different times across multiple projects. If I were authorized, I could tell you the names of the projects and what CMM or CMMI levels each achieved and exactly what steps were being performed to reach higher levels and why. What's CMMI? Do a search. I get over 2 million hits, and the first page has all the basics for someone who wants to know casually what it is.
If you want to know what other groups do, ask them.
Important: I did not mention sciences on any level. This was intentional as science is irrelevant for the point of the question being asked. I'm talking about knowledge within disciplines. That's why I mentioned plumbers and accountants and managers -- but not chemists.
Besides, with the possible exception of John Cage, even artists have deliverables as well as methods that they share and adopt.
(I have to be honest, I first thought you were talking about that character from mortal kombat)
4:33 baby.
In terms of disciplines, seminaries across the US teach how to be an effective speaker, how to structure your thoughts in a sermon, best ways to interpret pieces of scripture, etc. They also teach pastors how to counsel, manage and connect with their congregations. All of the pastors at my previous churches had a minimum of a Masters degree and had studied quite a bit of history and philosophy, as well as Hebrew and Greek.
Not really new knowledge or practices, are they?
So within denominations, you have standards and best practices. I think it's easier for other professions to set national or international standards because they can be regulated by governments. Plumbers have to meet county or state codes, accountants have to be certified (and managers, well, let's leave that one alone for now). Churches are basically only accountable to themselves or their denomination.
Yet, none of those groups are waiting around for the government to tell them what to do. They see a need for change, change, and those changes are adopted.
Can you think of anything that the religious professionals have added to general knowledge or practices over the last 100 years? Not borrowed, but added, to the vast swath of knowledge the other groups have added?
