Don't All Religions Teach Basically The Same Thing?

In a word, NO.   Many religions have elements in common, such as a belief in a divine being, rules for living, a belief in an afterlife, and heroes from the past.   It's tempting to think all religions are essentially the same, that only the names are different.  But that's just not true.  Basically most religions teach people that being good will earn them a ticket to heaven.

Christianity doesn't teach that.  Christianity is defined precisely by the opposite idea -- that we can't be good enough to be welcomed into heaven.  All the rules and rituals in the world can't make us righteous.  We need a miracle from God.  We need His grace.  We need Jesus.    And that brings us to the main point of distinction, between Christianity and other religions, Jesus.  Many people assume that Christianity is all about following the teachings of Jesus, just as, say, Confucianism is about following the ethical sayings of Confucius.  They  think that Christians are inspired by the Biblical stories of Jesus and other heroes of faith, just as Muslims mirror Muhammed or Hindus celebrate their gods and goddesses.  But there is far more to it than that.

Christianity is rooted in the historical event of Jesus -- God taking human form, dying to save us, and rising from the dead.  It's not just on inspirational story.  These things really happened, and we are the beneficiaries of these events.  We have a relationship with God, not just because we commune with the Spirit of Jesus, but because His blood bought our forgiveness.  We try to follow His teachings, not to pay our fare to the after world, but to thank Him for receiving us.