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1a) What does "alignment step" mean?
Think of each alignment "axis" like 3 squares on a board game.
(adding some spacers so the text doesn't end up next to my potion bottle avatar)
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[LAWFUL]
[NEUTRAL]
[CHAOTIC]
[GOOD]
[NEUTRAL]
[EVIL]
Moving one square is one "step."
So if your god is lawful good:
If you are lawful neutral (one square away on the good/evil path), you are one "step" away.
If you are neutral good, you are one "step" away from lawful good.
If you are neutral-neutral (true neutral), you are two "steps" away from lawful good (and therefore can't choose a LG god).
If you are lawful evil, you are two "steps" away from LG (and therefore can't choose a LG god).
And so on.
1b) Do I have to choose a god?
In many campaign worlds, you have to worship a god in order to be a cleric. In others, you can just worship a concept, like "truth," or "honor," or "fire," or "death," and are what we call a "godless cleric."
Because you are the DM of this campaign, you get to decide whether clerics have to have gods, or can just worship a concept.
If you allow godless clerics, concepts like "life" and "friendship" are reasonable choices for your healer cleric.
Understand that all clerics are allowed to heal, so you don't have to pick a god with the Healing domain to be able to heal. Even evil clerics can heal. :)
1c) Can I be a cleric of Sarenrae if I am chaotic good?
If you are CG and Sarenrae is NG, that's just one "step," so that's allowed. :)
2) Do I have to play a female cleric?
The cleric we show in the picture is female (her name is Kyra), so we use female pronouns for rules about clerics. The fighter section shows a male fighter (his name is Valeros), so we use male pronouns for rules about fighters. Your character can be whatever gender you want.
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2. Because english is poor with gender-neutral pronouns, writers and editors sometimes trade off between the two sides. Any character can be of any sex, unless there is an explicit requirement. So, clerics of almost any deity can be either.
1. If you do worship a single god, as a cleric you need to be no more than one alignment step away. If you are Chaotic-Good, you can worship a deity that is Chaotic-Good, Chaotic-Neutral, or Neutral-Good. Other deities are too far away on the slignment scale.
1b. You don't have to worship a deity directly, unless your campaign says so, as is the case with Pathfinder Society, the organized play campaign. If you do not have a deity, you will get help from gods of your alignment.
Do look at the Channel Energy class feature in clerics about healing, and positive and negative energy.
Hope this helps!
Edit: Ninja'ed by a Developer!
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Vanlon, are you starting with the Core Rulebook, or the Beginner Box? The Beginner Box is a much better item to start with if you're new and you don't have any experienced players to help you figure out things. The Core Rulebook is a lot to handle all at once.
You can get modules from a gaming store. Many comic book stores have them, too. Some book stores have them. Or buy them online. Or take a look at some of the free ones you can download from Paizo.com, like Master of the Fallen Fortress, or this free adventure, or the free simple adventure included in the Beginner Box GM Kit PDF, or Wayfinder #9's Beginner Box-compatible free adventure.
As for deities, it's really up to you. But, just like in myths, having gods gives you a bunch of instant ideas for stories, so it's probably easier to say "this campaign has gods, and they're the gods of the Core Rulebook." You can always change your mind later. :)
Edit: I'm looking at Akinra's post, and most of those are for more experienced players, they'd probably be too much for you to handle right now.
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1) There are several free modules to try. Some are written for Pathfinder Society Organized Play, but they work just fine. Simply omit the Faction Missions.
There are six Free RPG Day modules here: LINK
Hollow's Last Hope is a good one for getting your feet wet.
My personal favorite to date is This One, Carrion Crown. It is victorian horror themed!
I know This One (Kingmaker) is also beloved by many. It might be a little overwhelming for first time players.
Rise of the Runelords is a classic, I have not played it, but I know many who have, and absolutely love it. It can be found here. Link!
I would go to the Adventure Path page Link and read the brief descriptions to see which is most likely to amuse yourself and your friends.
They are around 15.00 each, but with three people, that is only about a dollar a month for a four hour session every Friday night! Amazingly good deal.
Once you have played at least one AP, I would suggest working with your friends to create your own world! It is very, very rewarding to create your own world. It is much easier after you have peeked at the mechanics of a professional AP first though.
Final thoughts:
First, try to find a local Pathfinder Society Organized Play group. Seriously. You will learn a TON about how the mechanics work and how they are supposed to work through PFS.
Second, build a PFS character to use on Play by Post here on the Paizo boards. The PbP format moves really slow, so you have tons of time to check out the different options.
Third, check out the community's Guide to the Class Guides section of the Advice Board. I don't like building pure optimized characters (my PFS druid is a gnome), but the guides provide a HUGE amount of information on how the different classes work, what their roles are, and how the different skills, feats, abilities, spells, and traits interact.