Unless they took it out, you can force religion on heathens using spread revolution CB. I'm not sure it was ever documented, so who knows. Apparently you can get it via mission rewards in Indonesia too.
I find that theocracy tier 8 reform is almost never worth it, just because the -cost vs other religions is so powerful. You could pay 50 to switch at the end of a 1 tag to finish up one faith faster. Before that, getting -45% province cost vs other religion from militarists in power + one state under god is amazing. Likely the second best government for WC after horde, with the only caveat being that it's obnoxious to get tier 8 in theocracy unless you start the game as one or are willing to form Jerusalem after moving cap to get it. Diplomatic + military hegemon gets you to -75%, Malta forts to 85% (almost to cap). At this point stacking it with admin efficiency means anybody who isn't your religion tends to be 1 war, and almost never more than 2. Catholic also has the advantage of being able to flop into reformed to blast the colonizers, then later switch back, since you can do interfaith dialogue + declaration of indulgence to sit at +3 tolerance of heretics even w/o humanist, then add fervent focus on stability + stability + theologian for at least tolerable unrest while overextended.
