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How to Found a Religion
Religion forms a major part of Civilization 7 as it can help you gain influence while unlocking a large variety of buffs. Although it first appears in a simplified form, it will eventually be possible to create your own religion and use it to conquer the world.
Are you ready to study Piety, build a Temple, and start an organized religion? Here’s how to found a religion in Civilization 7.
How to Found a Religion
The first type of Civilization 7 religion you can get is the Pantheon. The game will call this a ‘form of spirituality’ that predates organized religion.
If you don’t have a Pantheon yet, you must research the ‘Mysticism’ civic. You can do so once Chiefdom, the first civic, has been completed. Once the Mysticism research is done, click the icon with the dove at the top of the screen (it says ‘religion’ if you hover over it) to view the list of Pantheons and pick one. If you need more help, we’ve also got a separate guide on how to get a Pantheon.
The jump from Pantheon to a real religion happens when you reach the Exploration Age. To found a religion, you must research the ‘Piety’ civic, which is one of the two starting civics on the civic tree.
Piety unlocks the Temple building. Open a city’s production menu to place this building on your map. Once the Temple is finished, click the ‘religion’ icon at the top of the screen again (the button with the dove) and choose your religion.
Pick any you like the look of - the largest real-world religions are included, but you can also found a made-up religion. You can’t pick a religion that’s already been claimed by another player. Next, you must choose your religion’s characteristics:
- Reliquary beliefs: this grants a new way of earning relics. You can only have one of these.
- Founder beliefs: buff granted by expanding your religion, such as extra Culture for every Wonder. Initially, you can only pick one, but you’ll be able to unlock more as your religion grows (more on that below).
- Enhancer belief: grants additional buffs. You can unlock these by researching Theology civics; open the civics tree and choose the theology tab at the top.
How to Unlock the Next Founder Belief
As the game doesn't explain this, it's very difficult to obtain a second Founder Belief in Civilization 7 - but it is possible! Thanks to this Reddit post by Suitable_Estimate511, we now know that you must convert the majority of the population in civilization on a Distant Land to your religion to unlock the second Founder Belief. While doing so, your religion must maintain a majority within your own settlements.
To unlock the third Founder Belief, you must convert the majority of the population in all civilizations to your religion.
And that’s how to found a religion in Civ 7. Keep researching Theologies and be sure to produce some missionary units to start spreading your beliefs!