Religious units, wars, etc

[MinnesotaRuss]

Please, somebody explain religious wars and units. 1) Are there religious units other than missionaries apostles, gurus, monks, etc? Can any become a "religious unit" with some sort of promotion or such? How do I start a religious war? It appears to be something other than having different religions, right?

 

[Nigel_Tufnel2]

You can always have religious units battle each other, no need for a DOW. If you are in a war with someone, you can place a military unit on the opponents religious unit and "condemn" it. It will die and their religion will lose strength in surrounding cities.

 

[Victoria]

It appears to be something other than having different religions, right?

Sort of.
It is not about the religion the majority of your civ has but instead it is about the religion you founded.
So in essence you 'buy' religious units using faith. This will have the religion of the city they were created in and will therefore only spread/defend that religion.
Then when your religious units go forth to spread the word they will meet other religious units from other religions and they do not really fight or war but have a discussion about their religions with one side typically winning such a debate. Units can go to cities and try and convert them to your religion and this also part of what may be considered a religious war.
You do not really begin a religious war officially, it is always going on between the founders of religions.

However there is a card "Wars of Religion" that will give your units +4 vs units of a civ following another religion

 

[Midgardsormr]

To clarify: Wars of Religion gives your non-religious units (swordsmen, tanks, etc) a combat bonus, similar to Defender of the Faith and Crusade.

There is also a Holy War casus belli, which allows you to declare a conventional war on a civ with a different majority religion. It reduces grievances/warmonger penalties over a simple formal war.