I have 0 points in Religion, how do I get started?

[gregorsamsa]

Every other civ has some Religion points, I have none. What kind of unit/building do I need to acquire to get going in this religion game? (edit: it's too late to start a religion; they are all founded)

 

[Furret]

Early in the game you want to research Pottery which will allow you to build the shrine. Once you build the shrine it will produce 1 per turn. Depending on how many pantheons have already been founded, you will eventually be able to found a pantheon by picking one of the many beliefs. After that, you have to accrue more than 200 faith to birth a Great Prophet. Once you've done that, you will have the option to use the Great Prophet to found a religion.

You won't be able to get any religion points in the game you're currently playing.

 

[gregorsamsa]

So the idea essentially is to be the first to form a religion, and then spread it as much as possible via missionaries and prophets (and trade routes), thus increasing your religion points?

 

[Louis XXIV]

The goal is to get attributes for your religion that are helpful and use your religion in a way that makes it even stronger. For example, if your religion is giving you gold for each city, you obviously want to spread your religion to as many cities as possible. If your religion gives you extra culture from the Hermitage, spreading your religion is less useful.

You can also use faith to buy great people eventually, so getting a religion that gives you more faith could eventually be useful that way.

 

[Scarpa]

Even though you can't found a religion, faith is not worthless. You can save it up to purchase Great People once you hit industrial (depending on your policy choices), and there is the possibility to have your cities convert to an existing religion which has follower beliefs that allow purchases of faith buildings.

For instance, you could have your nearest neighbor spread the Pagodas belief to your cities, that would certainly be worth building Shrines for!

 

[joncnunn]

So the idea essentially is to be the first to form a religion, and then spread it as much as possible via missionaries and prophets (and trade routes), thus increasing your religion points?

No; you don't get more faith for people following your religion. You get more faith by building more Shrines & Temples in your cities.
The second way is to choose a pantheon giving faith bonuses (requires suitable local terriagn)
Some natural wonders also give faith.
Stonehendge also gives faith.