"Ways of Being Religious" and Heuristic Study

Describe each of the 6 "ways of being religious"

Sacred rite

this is a communal activity where participants achieve atonement and establish their sense of meaningful order, identity and propriety within the knowledge of ultimate reality

Right action

this is an effort to follow rules that are given by, and supposed to be happened by a religion

Devotion

surrendering himself to realize or attain the knowledge of divineness

Shamanic mediation

one of ways to seek atonement via entry into unconsciousness

Mystical quest

a quest to get free of worldliness and to attain an awareness of ultimate reality

Reasoned inquiry

rational struggle to understand the system of the universe such as how things do what they do and why

What are the advantages of studying religion using this method.
they help avoid false or reductive generalizations

they help one better understand examples of any one way

they hep one recognize and appreciate genuine differences and avoid false or misleading contrasts

they suggest fruitful comparative studies of religions in depth

they open up promising avenues of dialogue between traditions

Using the "distinctive traits of Western Religions"
Explain what you think are the two greatest differences between the western and eastern traditions.

the first greatest difference is the concept of ultimate reality. in western religions, ultimate reality (god) with a particular purpose, can do anything without being accused of executing unjust intervention like a tyrannical bully, because god is right no matter what. in contrast with eastern religions, ultimate reality (god) doesn't have a purpose but encompass everything, depending on the law of nature. besides, ultimate reality in eastern religions is more person like in a sense that it has aspects of both being good and bad whereas in western religions, ultimate reality must be every time unlike a human being unless he is an angel or whatnot, which is contradictory from what the author wrote.

the second greatest difference is existence of messengers. in western religions, there must be a messenger who is chosen by god and he spreads divine words to public, whereas in eastern religions, there isn't a messenger; there might be those who have studied farther than one, so that they can help one realize things better. the existence of messengers shows the existence of class system, not pertaining to wealth, however to something more like fate or predestination.