You have chosen the "just code" brand of koolaid. Results are highly variable, its hard to manage and it doesn't scale. But YMMV.
Books and seminars, we got these, but good agile is done by adding in some open source software tools, a whiteboard, pens and cards, and people with enthusiasm and an open mind. The last one is most important.
If we're still talking about the original post, then absolutely it's a belief system. Not a very well thought through one, though.