reality of religion

although not the biggest part of my civilization with as much influence as i though there would be, religion has played a good part in my civilization. new religions i discover, it be polytheism, monotheisn, confucianism, or others have remained with my civilization for years. unlike in our real worlds history religion has not caused any issues in my civilization or conflicts with other civilizations. i have had the luck of spreading religions to other countries with whom i have open borders and good relations. also i have had the ability to spread a single religion throughout my cities to unite them under one religion.
as following the recommendations of the computer i find my self discovering new religions quite frequently in different cities, which confused me in a sense that in history all of these different religions were certainly not founded in one country. but at the same time makes sense becuase people in one country are not always united under one religion, most likely as times become modern and i cant say this game follows historys down to its very detailed path.
i have noticed tho by switching religions so often i must take time to build new religous buildings and wait for new religous leaders to emerge, and also send more missionaries out into the world and await for them to accomplish what they need. i think that it would be more resourceful to focus on strengthening of one religion and using time on other aspects of the game.
i guess i have something to possibly try next time ..

staying small...?

ALthough continuing to be cautious of other leaders in this game and having many be cautious of me, i have remained out of war. Without taking part in wars i have recently faced problems in spreading my civilization and conquering new lands. As time goes on there are less and less unchartered territories and useful resources to discover.
Im not sure if its a good or a bad thing to keep out of war...? becuase there are also many advantages. like focusing on a smaller amount of cities to build and control. This allows me to have a strong but maybe smaller military, with more warriors defending a low number of cities. and staying out of great conflict with other civilization with a much stronger, larger military.
staying small and out of conflict is only one way in which i believe i can survive as a civilization, eventhough there are many things i have not tried and considered. but as for now, its working for me...