Universal religions are the religions that are often seeking people to convert to their religion, always wanting to expand, while ethnic religions are the religions that often are land locked, not seeking people to convert, but aren't against people converting to their religion, and sometimes are often small and knit close. The origin of a universal religion begins in one place and slowly or quickly moves to other areas in hopes of leaving a mark there, so on and so forth. This religion is able to be in any area at any time. The origin of a ethnic religion are relatively tied to the physical geography of that culture or group. The difference is that, while universal religions are always wanting more people to join their religion, they are quite popular and are able to distribute out into new areas, whereas an ethnic religion doesn't particularly have that ability.