[NFP] Religious Victory Elimination Thread

[Leucarum]

Edit : added in missed votes while typing. Wow - we all went for Dido?

Amanitore/Nubia [17]
Catherine/France [12]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [16]
Cyrus/Persia [12]
Dido/Phoenicia [1] (4-3) Not really incentivised to go faith and coastal cities tend to make bad holy sites unless you're Indonesia.
Frederick/Germany [10]
Gandhi/India [18]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [18]
Gitarja/Indonesia [19]
Gorgo/Greece [16]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [8]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [18]
Jadwiga/Poland [19]
Jayavarman/Khmer [18]
John Curtin/Australia [15]
Kupe/Maori [17]
Lady Six Sky/Maya [7]
Lautaro/Mapuche [16]
Mansa Musa/Mali [21]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [15]
Pedro/Brazil [20]
Pericles/Greece [16]
Peter/Russia [26] (25+1) Again I don't think there's anything but a run-away victor for this thread. One of my least favourite civs to play but you gotta respect what they can do.
Philip/Spain [17]
Qin Shi Huang/China [11]
Saladin/Arabia [21]
Simón Bolívar/Gran Colombia [11]
Tamar/Georgia [20]
Tomyris/Scythia [16]
Trajan/Rome [12]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [14]

 

[fredrikslicer]

Amanitore/Nubia [17]
Catherine/France [12]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [16] + Nice passive civ that incentivses base faith gain
Cyrus/Persia [12]
Dido/Phoenicia [1] -3 not a whole lot to go on for faith lets be honest ELIMINATED
Frederick/Germany [10]
Gandhi/India [18]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [18]
Gitarja/Indonesia [19]
Gorgo/Greece [16]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [8]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [18]
Jadwiga/Poland [19]
Jayavarman/Khmer [18]
John Curtin/Australia [15]
Kupe/Maori [17]
Lady Six Sky/Maya [7]
Lautaro/Mapuche [16]
Mansa Musa/Mali [21]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [15]
Pedro/Brazil [20]
Pericles/Greece [16]
Peter/Russia [26]
Philip/Spain [17]
Qin Shi Huang/China [11]
Saladin/Arabia [21]
Simón Bolívar/Gran Colombia [11]
Tamar/Georgia [20]
Tomyris/Scythia [16]
Trajan/Rome [12]

 

[bengalryan9]

You can't win an RV without a Great Prophet. Period. Anyone who has the slightest advantage towards getting a great prophet - be it through access to am early wildcard slot, quicker holy sites, or extra safety early that frees them up from spamming troops - should have an advantage here. I don't care if your religious units are +30 combat strength... if you can't found a religion, it doesn't matter.

Amanitore/Nubia [17]
Catherine/France [12]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [17]
Cyrus/Persia [12]
Frederick/Germany [10]
Gandhi/India [18]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [18]
Gitarja/Indonesia [19]
Gorgo/Greece [16]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [8]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [18]
Jadwiga/Poland [19]
Jayavarman/Khmer [18]
John Curtin/Australia [15] If you're only getting +1 adjacency from Land Down Under that's on you, not Australia. You should be getting at least +3 on your holy sites and theater squares no problem.
Kupe/Maori [17]
Lady Six Sky/Maya [7]
Lautaro/Mapuche [16]
Mansa Musa/Mali [21]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [15]
Pedro/Brazil [20]
Pericles/Greece [16]
Peter/Russia [26]
Philip/Spain [17]
Qin Shi Huang/China [11]
Saladin/Arabia [21]
Simón Bolívar/Gran Colombia [11]
Tamar/Georgia [17] (20-3) She may be built to look like a religious civ, but what real advantages does she have over everyone else? Extra faith for 10 turns of a protectorate war, and a little faith from level 3 walls... not exactly impressive. I'm not sold here.
Tomyris/Scythia [16]
Trajan/Rome [12]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [15] (14+1) I'm upvoting them, and it's not hard to understand why. First of all, the you don't have to worry about a single declaration of war from the AI the entire game. While you're building troops to defend yourself, Wilfrid can put down a holy site and start running prayers to get a great prophet which, you know, is something you HAVE to do to have any shot at winning a religious victory (it doesn't matter how good some of these other leaders look - if they don't get don't a prophet, they're not winning RV no matter how big of a CS boost they get). Secondly, tundra bias *is* a bonus to RV because in any game that Peter's not in, Wildrid's taking Dance of the Aurora, and unlike every other leader in the game Wilfrid can actually grow those cities without taking Feed the World (freeing him up to take Choral Music, Work Ethic, or whatever else he wants). Lily downvoting Canada is basically a meme at this point, and I don't know why I'm bothering to explain all this since he'll continue to do so regardless, but if you can't see value here you're blind.

 

[Josephias]

Amanitore/Nubia [17]
Catherine/France [12]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [17]
Cyrus/Persia [12]
Frederick/Germany [10]
Gandhi/India [18]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [18]
Gitarja/Indonesia [19]
Gorgo/Greece [16]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [8]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [18]
Jadwiga/Poland [19]
Jayavarman/Khmer [18]
John Curtin/Australia [15]
Kupe/Maori [17]
Lady Six Sky/Maya [7]
Lautaro/Mapuche [16]
Mansa Musa/Mali [21]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [15]
Pedro/Brazil [20]
Pericles/Greece [16]
Peter/Russia [26]
Philip/Spain [17]
Qin Shi Huang/China [11]
Saladin/Arabia [22] (21+1) Arabia and Russia are probably the greatest contenders here, and I'll have to upvote them at some point. Let's go with Arabia first because, even if Russia gets bonuses that directly benefit religion, Arabia's bonuses allow them to to first set-up their civ at wish without worring of getting out of the religion game, then grow their civ while building religion (getting science and a little culture from it), and improve their religion while building science. Quite nice.
Simón Bolívar/Gran Colombia [11]
Tamar/Georgia [17]
Tomyris/Scythia [16]
Trajan/Rome [9] (12-3) Maybe i'm wrong, but not finding much to support a religion game here besides a little extra culture from monuments.
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [15]

 

[lotrmith]

Catherine/France [9] 12 - 3 Nothing to see here.
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [17]
Cyrus/Persia [12]
Frederick/Germany [10]
Gandhi/India [18]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [18]
Gitarja/Indonesia [19]
Gorgo/Greece [16]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [8]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [18]
Jadwiga/Poland [19]
Jayavarman/Khmer [18]
John Curtin/Australia [15]
Kupe/Maori [17]
Lady Six Sky/Maya [7]
Lautaro/Mapuche [16]
Mansa Musa/Mali [21]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [15]
Pedro/Brazil [20]
Pericles/Greece [16]
Peter/Russia [26]
Philip/Spain [17]
Qin Shi Huang/China [11]
Saladin/Arabia [22]
Simón Bolívar/Gran Colombia [11]
Tamar/Georgia [18] 17 + 1 @bengalryan9 The advantage she has is that she can chain golden ages, and thus maintain permanent Exodus of the Evangelists, with precisely zero effort focused outside the religious game since she gets the normal +2 era score for converting a city on top of the +2 movement and +2 charges. She doesn't have to hold back on score sources like discovering wonders, clearing camps, sailing, etc nor does she have to directly pursue them to ensure the next golden age. She also gets double envoys for city states she has converted which also frees her from having to go out of her way for religious CS quests and other envoy sources. She can literally focus almost entirely on religion and practically nothing else, and hide behind walls if she gets attacked.
Tomyris/Scythia [16]
Trajan/Rome [9]

 

[enKage]

Catherine/France [9]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [17]
Cyrus/Persia [12]
Frederick/Germany [10]
Gandhi/India [18]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [18]
Gitarja/Indonesia [19]
Gorgo/Greece [16]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [9] 8+1 Stave church + plenty of faith from pillaging + easy early golden era (explo, uniques) for more great prophet points. Some say war is a risk of losing own apostles. I say war is a chance to condemn enemy apostles. Especially on sea.
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [18]
Jadwiga/Poland [19]
Jayavarman/Khmer [18]
John Curtin/Australia [15]
Kupe/Maori [17]
Lady Six Sky/Maya [7]
Lautaro/Mapuche [16]
Mansa Musa/Mali [21]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [15]
Pedro/Brazil [20]
Pericles/Greece [16]
Peter/Russia [26]
Philip/Spain [17]
Qin Shi Huang/China [11]
Saladin/Arabia [22]
Simón Bolívar/Gran Colombia [11]
Tamar/Georgia [18] --> someone downvoted neverending exodus of Apostles? Ok, respect
Tomyris/Scythia [16]
Trajan/Rome [9]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [12] 15-3 I totally agree with @bengalryan you cannot win without great prophet. And Canada is absolutely the worse in getting great prophet with low production/growth starting bias. Others don't have this malus and can even chop district and project. Choping tundra forest as Canada is counter-Canada. Being "safe" from surprise war is just an illusion on deity, AI would simply denounce you and do the usual job

 

[Hans Castorp]

Catherine/France [9]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [17]
Cyrus/Persia [12]
Frederick/Germany [10]
Gandhi/India [19] 18+1 Cumulatively some handy bonuses to faith, but the stand out here are the additional missionary charges, which allows for early conversion waves. Timed well you can knock out a couple of religious competitors in the interval between them founding religions and getting temples and apostles.
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [18]
Gitarja/Indonesia [19]
Gorgo/Greece [16]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [9]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [18]
Jadwiga/Poland [19]
Jayavarman/Khmer [18]
John Curtin/Australia [15]
Kupe/Maori [17]
Lady Six Sky/Maya [4] 7-3 Not much going on here. 10% production bonus on early HS, but offset by plains bias start and slow population growth.
Lautaro/Mapuche [16]
Mansa Musa/Mali [21]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [15]
Pedro/Brazil [20]
Pericles/Greece [16]
Peter/Russia [26]
Philip/Spain [17]
Qin Shi Huang/China [11]
Saladin/Arabia [22]
Simón Bolívar/Gran Colombia [11]
Tamar/Georgia [18]
Tomyris/Scythia [16]
Trajan/Rome [9]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [12]

 

[OzzyKP]

Catherine/France [9]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [17]
Cyrus/Persia [12]
Frederick/Germany [10]
Gandhi/India [19]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [18]
Gitarja/Indonesia [19]
Gorgo/Greece [16]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [9]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [18]
Jadwiga/Poland [19]
Jayavarman/Khmer [18]
John Curtin/Australia [15]
Kupe/Maori [17]
Lady Six Sky/Maya [4]
Lautaro/Mapuche [16]
Mansa Musa/Mali [21]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [12] 15-3
Pedro/Brazil [20]
Pericles/Greece [16]
Peter/Russia [26]
Philip/Spain [18] 17+1
Qin Shi Huang/China [11]
Saladin/Arabia [22]
Simón Bolívar/Gran Colombia [11]
Tamar/Georgia [18]
Tomyris/Scythia [16]
Trajan/Rome [9]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [12]

 

[bengalryan9]

^Make sure you explain your reasonings!

 

[The Highwayman]

No explanation in the previous post is against the thread rules, but I'll leave the standings as they are unless otherwise instructed.

Moderator Action: Yes, a voting post without a stated rationale for the votes is to be disregarded. Browd

Catherine/France [9]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [17]
Cyrus/Persia [12]
Frederick/Germany [10]
Gandhi/India [19]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [18]
Gitarja/Indonesia [19]
Gorgo/Greece [16]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [9]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [19] [18+1] Double production towards holy sites lowers cost of getting religion, with the standard adjacency providing extra faith for the faith things. Faster Theater Squares gets to the policy cards and Theocracy faster. Very strong at any condition really.
Jadwiga/Poland [19]
Jayavarman/Khmer [18]
John Curtin/Australia [15]
Kupe/Maori [17]
Lady Six Sky/Maya [1] [4-3] Crap flat land start bias with no religious benefits lowers her ranking. The whole Observatory saves better locations for Holy Sites doesn't work for me. In a religious game, I'm prioritizing the Holy Site locations over all else (obviously).
Lautaro/Mapuche [16]
Mansa Musa/Mali [21]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [12]
Pedro/Brazil [20]
Pericles/Greece [16]
Peter/Russia [26]
Philip/Spain [18]
Qin Shi Huang/China [11]
Saladin/Arabia [22]
Simón Bolívar/Gran Colombia [11]
Tamar/Georgia [18]
Tomyris/Scythia [16]
Trajan/Rome [9]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [12]

 

[JesseS]

Catherine/France [9]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [17]
Cyrus/Persia [12]
Frederick/Germany [10]
Gandhi/India [19]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [18]
Gitarja/Indonesia [19]
Gorgo/Greece [16]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [10](9+1). Far from the best on this list, but I think they're at least better than half the remaining ones. The stave church can give you some great holy sites and provides a nice boost to coastal production. Coastal raiding can push you through to the relevant civics and techs, as well as providing faith and gold.
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [19]
Jadwiga/Poland [19]
Jayavarman/Khmer [18]
John Curtin/Australia [15]
Kupe/Maori [17]
Lady Six Sky/Maya [1]
Lautaro/Mapuche [16]
Mansa Musa/Mali [21]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [12]
Pedro/Brazil [20]
Pericles/Greece [16]
Peter/Russia [26]
Philip/Spain [15](18-3). Weak civ all around, even in religion. Missions come late in a religious game (opposite side of civic tree from Theocracy) and besides that, they have no bonuses to their faith game. Their continent-based trade bonus is situational at best. If extra inquisitor charges and a pretty good musket replacement are relevant to your religious game, it's probably gone on too long and is going to settle into a very long grind as the AI churns out apostles.
Qin Shi Huang/China [11]
Saladin/Arabia [22]
Simón Bolívar/Gran Colombia [11]
Tamar/Georgia [18]
Tomyris/Scythia [16]
Trajan/Rome [9]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [12]

 

[Kmart_Elvis]

Catherine/France [9]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [17]
Cyrus/Persia [12]
Frederick/Germany [10]
Gandhi/India [19]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [18]
Gitarja/Indonesia [19]
Gorgo/Greece [16]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [10]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [19]
Jadwiga/Poland [19]
Jayavarman/Khmer [18]
John Curtin/Australia [15]
Kupe/Maori [17]
Lady Six Sky/Maya [1]
Lautaro/Mapuche [17] (16+1) Mountain start bias perfect for great holy sites, an early culture-generating UI, and a massive +10CS for your apostles against golden age civs. They can be a great counter to Georgia in the game.
Mansa Musa/Mali [21]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [12]
Pedro/Brazil [20]
Pericles/Greece [16]
Peter/Russia [26]
Philip/Spain [15]
Qin Shi Huang/China [11]
Saladin/Arabia [22]
Simón Bolívar/Gran Colombia [8] (11-3) The extra movement for religious units (especially with Missionary Zeal) is nice to have when it comes to getting your apostles to where they need to be, but it's nothing OP, and it's really their only thing they have going for RV.
Tamar/Georgia [18]
Tomyris/Scythia [16]
Trajan/Rome [9]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [12]

 

[monikernemo]

Catherine/France [9]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [17]
Cyrus/Persia [12]
Frederick/Germany [10]
Gandhi/India [19]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [18]
Gitarja/Indonesia [19]
Gorgo/Greece [16]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [10]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [19]
Jadwiga/Poland [19]
Jayavarman/Khmer [18]
John Curtin/Australia [15]
Kupe/Maori [17]
Lady Six Sky/Maya [0] (1-3) Eliminated. Mountainous starts are terrible for LSS and settling close to your capital restricts your faith output; you dont have the flexibility of settling near natural wonders that are far away.
Lautaro/Mapuche [17]
Mansa Musa/Mali [21]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [12]
Pedro/Brazil [20]
Pericles/Greece [16]
Peter/Russia [26]
Philip/Spain [15]
Qin Shi Huang/China [12] (11+ 1)
Qin should stay for quite abit since there are some synergy between his wonder rushing (Stone Henge and Mahabodhi) and quick RV.
Aside, it is easy for Qin to unlock Buttress which gives him easy access to Hagia Sophia if he wanted. With early wonder rushing, he can easily chain golden ages which gives access to Exodus of the Evangelist.
Saladin/Arabia [22]
Simón Bolívar/Gran Colombia [8]
Tamar/Georgia [18]
Tomyris/Scythia [16]
Trajan/Rome [9]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [12]

 

[Drivingrevilo]

Amanitore got lost somewhere, I think she’s the only one.

Amanitore/Nubia [18] (17+1) Multiple points in her favour: strong production game, especially towards districts; desert spawn for pantheon adjacency; Nubian pyramid for even more adjacency; and an strong, defensive early game unit, which means she can comfortably invest in religious infrastructure without fear of attack.
Catherine/France [9]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [17]
Cyrus/Persia [12]
Frederick/Germany [10]
Gandhi/India [19]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [18]
Gitarja/Indonesia [19]
Gorgo/Greece [16]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [10]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [19]
Jadwiga/Poland [19]
Jayavarman/Khmer [18]
John Curtin/Australia [15]
Kupe/Maori [17]
Lautaro/Mapuche [17]
Mansa Musa/Mali [21]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [12]
Pedro/Brazil [20]
Pericles/Greece [16]
Peter/Russia [26]
Philip/Spain [15] I’m of a similar opinion to @JesseS about Philip: no bonuses to earning a religion, no bonuses to faith generation, no bonuses to culture game, and - perhaps most critically - he also *needs* to keep up in science in order to reach Conquistadors; for most religious games, science is something you can ignore (except for Cartography, assuming you’re not on Pangaea), but Philip is forced to invest into it as part of his militaristic design. But as always with Philip, there is an inevitable *however*: if you manage to set everything up, the ‘instant conversion’ loop with your Conquistadors is devastatingly effective. So yes, he’s not the fastest RV in the world, and probably shouldn’t reach the top 15, but he’s better than quite a few remaining.
Qin Shi Huang/China [12]
Saladin/Arabia [22]
Simón Bolívar/Gran Colombia [5] (8-3) As the only domination one-trick pony remaining, he stands out like a sore thumb. Extra movement for apostles means little if you don’t have the faith generation to afford them, or if you miss out on a religion entirely.
Tamar/Georgia [18]
Tomyris/Scythia [16]
Trajan/Rome [9]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [12]

 

[Republic of San Montuoso]

Early faith is essential because 1) it allows you to grab your pantheon first (another faith generation pantheon like Desert Folklore, Sacred Path of Dance of the Aurora, or even Divine Spark if you want to have more GPP if you're afraid of loosing) and 2) more faith will allow you to purchase your Great Prophet. As @bengalryan9 said, you can't win RV without a Great Prophet, so early faith generation is essential (unless you're Saladin). So 1) abilities that gives you faith from terrains (Mali, Russia) 2) early faith generating improvements (Nubia, Egypt, Scythia) 3) early easiest HS (Japan, Russia) or 4) better natural adjacency bonus for HS (Brazil, Australia, Indonesia) are ALL we have to look. Boni for when you have a religion are great but useless if you can't found one (looking at you Spain).

Amanitore/Nubia [18]
Catherine/France [6] (9-3) Spies are of no use for religion or against holy sites, medieval to industrial wonders are too late to found a religion, tourism is fun but does not help spreading your religion... Catherine, as a lot of leaders, suffers from no early bonus and nothing helping her in faith/GPP generation. We still have some leaders like her and it's time to get rid of them so that we can do our true battle between the religious civs.
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [17]
Cyrus/Persia [12]
Frederick/Germany [10]
Gandhi/India [19]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [18]
Gitarja/Indonesia [19]
Gorgo/Greece [16]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [10]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [19]
Jadwiga/Poland [19]
Jayavarman/Khmer [18]
John Curtin/Australia [15]
Kupe/Maori [17]
Lautaro/Mapuche [17]
Mansa Musa/Mali [21]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [13] (12+1) As I said: big production so can take God King instead of Urban Planning so early faith + big production so can build HS quickly + a lot of mountains so Earth Goddess (or Fire Goddess if not available; often near volcanoes or geothermic sources) = a very good contender for RV. Not the best, but, quite ironically, much better than Philip II.
Pedro/Brazil [20]
Pericles/Greece [16]
Peter/Russia [26]
Philip/Spain [15]
Qin Shi Huang/China [12]
Saladin/Arabia [22]
Simón Bolívar/Gran Colombia [5]
Tamar/Georgia [18]
Tomyris/Scythia [16]
Trajan/Rome [9]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [12]

 

[JhGf_123]

Amanitore/Nubia [18]
Catherine/France [6]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [17]
Cyrus/Persia [12]
Frederick/Germany [10]
Gandhi/India [19]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [18]
Gitarja/Indonesia [19]
Gorgo/Greece [17] (16+1) her culture bonus comes into play immediately (kill a barb = gain culture), so she can rush mysticism & theology faster than nearly anyone – including Pericles, who has to wait for the acropolis (= drama & poetry) to get his first boost.
Harald Hardrada/Norway [10]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [19]
Jadwiga/Poland [19]
Jayavarman/Khmer [18]
John Curtin/Australia [15]
Kupe/Maori [17]
Lautaro/Mapuche [17]
Mansa Musa/Mali [21]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [13] I agree, Pachacuti gets clear + obvious bonuses to religious play, so it's annoying to see someone downvote him without giving an explanation.
Pedro/Brazil [20]
Pericles/Greece [16]
Peter/Russia [26]
Philip/Spain [15]
Qin Shi Huang/China [12]
Saladin/Arabia [22]
Simón Bolívar/Gran Colombia [2] it's him or Catherine. At least her apostles get a small combat strength buff from diplo visibility, and she can build Haghia Sophia slightly quicker. Colombia only has +1 movement, which isn't a huge deal.
Tamar/Georgia [18]
Tomyris/Scythia [16] we decided that her combat boosts don't apply to religious units, correct? so is the kurgan really enough to keep her longer?
Trajan/Rome [9]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [12]

 

[Dantesedge]

Amanitore/Nubia [18]
Catherine/France [6]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [17]
Cyrus/Persia [12]
Frederick/Germany [7] (10-3) Of all the civs left on this list, Germany is the only one left leaving me to ask "why are they still here?" The only bonus to the religious game I see is that with an extra district they can build a Holy Site and not hurt their city planning. Is that enough to downvote someone else on this list? Nope - I see decent to amazing bonuses with every other civ left besides Frederick.
Gandhi/India [19]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [18]
Gitarja/Indonesia [19]
Gorgo/Greece [17]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [10]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [19]
Jadwiga/Poland [19]
Jayavarman/Khmer [18]
John Curtin/Australia [15]
Kupe/Maori [17]
Lautaro/Mapuche [17]
Mansa Musa/Mali [21]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [13]
Pedro/Brazil [20]
Pericles/Greece [16]
Peter/Russia [26]
Philip/Spain [15]
Qin Shi Huang/China [12]
Saladin/Arabia [22]
Simón Bolívar/Gran Colombia [2]
Tamar/Georgia [19] (18+1) Exodus of the Evangelist followed by Exodus of the Evangelist followed by Exodus of the Evangelist. Unlike everyone else, she still gains the +2 era score for religious conversion which makes chaining these bonuses easy. That plus the +4/+8 faith Tsikhe for lots of mid-game faith, the +100% faith from protectorate wars (+16 faith Tsikhes!), and the ability for complete control over religious city states... yes she has effective bonuses to winning religious victories.
Tomyris/Scythia [16]
Trajan/Rome [9]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [12]

 

[TCBB]

Amanitore/Nubia [18]
Catherine/France [6]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [17]
Cyrus/Persia [12]
Frederick/Germany [7]
Gandhi/India [19]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [18]
Gitarja/Indonesia [19]
Gorgo/Greece [17]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [7] (10-3) In the simple calculation of 'which Civs are able to spend their early hammers on religion?', I think Matthias comes out worse; but that got some pushback when I downvoted him last, so Harald it is. Norway wants – no, Norway needs to spend early hammers on units to start the pillaging snowball, esp. his Viking Longboats; after all, a Norway without pillaging is basically vanilla. But you can't simultaneously rush a religion and build an armada of Longboats. So if you go religion as Norway, you're essentially choosing to play a vanilla Civ – someone with no bonuses to religion (dont @ me with Stave Church, it's a terrible building), someone with no CS advantage for apostles, and someone who is missing out on their only good bonus. And that's on top of the problem identified already that warfare = danger for your apostles =/= fast RV.
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [19]
Jadwiga/Poland [19]
Jayavarman/Khmer [18]
John Curtin/Australia [15]
Kupe/Maori [17]
Lautaro/Mapuche [17]
Mansa Musa/Mali [21]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [13]
Pedro/Brazil [20]
Pericles/Greece [16]
Peter/Russia [27] (26+1) Running out of Civs I actively want to upvote (Khmer or Georgia, ewww, no thanks: how to build a "religious" civ with no bonuses to religious victory). So, back to Russia it is.
Philip/Spain [15]
Qin Shi Huang/China [12]
Saladin/Arabia [22]
Simón Bolívar/Gran Colombia [2]
Tamar/Georgia [19]
Tomyris/Scythia [16]
Trajan/Rome [9]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [12]

 

[Weraptor]

Amanitore/Nubia [18]
Catherine/France [6]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [17]
Cyrus/Persia [12]
Frederick/Germany [7]
Gandhi/India [19]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [18]
Gitarja/Indonesia [19]
Gorgo/Greece [17]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [7]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [19]
Jadwiga/Poland [19]
Jayavarman/Khmer [18]
John Curtin/Australia [15]
Kupe/Maori [17]
Lautaro/Mapuche [17]
Mansa Musa/Mali [21]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [13]
Pedro/Brazil [20]
Pericles/Greece [16]
Peter/Russia [27]
Philip/Spain [15]
Qin Shi Huang/China [12]
Saladin/Arabia [22]
Simón Bolívar/Gran Colombia [2]
Tamar/Georgia [20] (19+1) Indeed, permanent reliable Exodus is quite strong and doesn't deserve downvotes at this time.
Tomyris/Scythia [16]
Trajan/Rome [6] (9-3) Religion is of little help in Rome games. May even hurt you actually.
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [12]

 

[bengalryan9]

Amanitore/Nubia [18]
Catherine/France [6]
Chandragupta/India [16]
Cleopatra/Egypt [17]
Cyrus/Persia [12]
Frederick/Germany [7]
Gandhi/India [19]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [18]
Gitarja/Indonesia [19]
Gorgo/Greece [17]
Harald Hardrada/Norway [7]
Hojo Tokimune/Japan [19]
Jadwiga/Poland [19]
Jayavarman/Khmer [18]
John Curtin/Australia [15]
Kupe/Maori [17]
Lautaro/Mapuche [17]
Mansa Musa/Mali [21]
Matthias Corvinus/Hungary [14]
Pachacuti/Inca [13]
Pedro/Brazil [20]
Pericles/Greece [16]
Peter/Russia [27]
Philip/Spain [15]
Qin Shi Huang/China [9] (12-3) Yes, he can rush Stonehenge, but that's no guarantee as it requires stone to build. If you don't have stone, are you really going to take a break from spamming wonders to build a holy site and run prayers? I wouldn't. Seems to up to chance to me to be a comfortable RV contender every time.
Saladin/Arabia [22]
Simón Bolívar/Gran Colombia [2]
Tamar/Georgia [21] (20+1) Fair enough - I was wrong! I could do what is typical of these threads and ignore every counter argument, double down time and time again on being wrong, and generally be an annoyance to everyone else by sticking to my guns... or I could - gasp! - admit my mistake and learn from it. I'll even throw her another upvote to admit my mistake. Was that so hard?
Tomyris/Scythia [16]
Trajan/Rome [6]
Wilfrid Laurier/Canada [12] He's got his holy site built while you're still churning out warriors and slingers to protect yourself from the inevitable AI declaration on deity. Also, who builds their capital surrounded by tundra as Canada anyways? People have this idea that Canada is forced to settle in tundra and only in tundra... you settle all of that later on, when you have religious beliefs that can help.

Here's a Deity save file to prove what Canada can do. Production-poor start (only one hill). Trained a couple of scouts and one slinger while researching Astrology first (and I did NOT get the Eureka, either). Promptly plopped down a Holy Site and spammed prayers while denouncing every AI as soon as I saw them to prove that you're completely safe, and managed to get the first pantheon (Auroras) and the first religion (Work Ethic for production and Gudwaras for food). NOW he's ready to settle the tundra.