I've played about a dozen BNW games and they have had a common theme: my cities were constantly bombarded by foreign Great Prophets and Missionaries.
In at least three games, I founded a religion pretty early, but that did not stop the onslaught. The only way to protect my Capitol was to station units all around it to prevent the foreign preachers from getting next to the city.
In one game, one of my cities got converted back and forth at least a dozen times in a 20 turn span by three different civs.
I still think an early Pantheon can be a very good thing if you can really take advantage of one of the early tenets. But beyond that, it seems like maintaining your own religion will often be a challenge.
The other problem is that you often can't know if you will be stuck in a religious quagmire until after you have decided whether to invest in Faith buildings and/or the Hagia Sophia.
In at least three games, I founded a religion pretty early, but that did not stop the onslaught. The only way to protect my Capitol was to station units all around it to prevent the foreign preachers from getting next to the city.
In one game, one of my cities got converted back and forth at least a dozen times in a 20 turn span by three different civs.
I still think an early Pantheon can be a very good thing if you can really take advantage of one of the early tenets. But beyond that, it seems like maintaining your own religion will often be a challenge.
The other problem is that you often can't know if you will be stuck in a religious quagmire until after you have decided whether to invest in Faith buildings and/or the Hagia Sophia.