An ethnic group is a group of people who share cultural ideas and beliefs that have been a part of their community for generations. They can share a language, religion, history, types of food, traditional stories and beliefs.
An exemple of an ethnic group are the Kurds. They live in a mountain region that includes Iraq, Ira, Syria and Turkey. They speak Kurdish and most of them are Muslims. The Kurds do not have their own state or government. They live as a minority group and are ruled by the country they live in.
A religious group shares a belief system in a god or gods, with a specific set of rituals and literature. Various ethnic groups or nations may share the same religion and not be part of the same culture. Examples of a religious group are : Christianity, Islam, Hinduism or Judaism.