As America marks what would have been the 79th birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., many of its citizens continue to distrust and dislike those who are different, according to the Rev. Ronald E. Peters.

Their "us versus them" attitude creates a society "where the principles of divide and conquer allow certain evils to prevail," he told a diverse crowd of several hundred people gathered inside Squirrel Hill's Tree of Life Congregation to celebrate Dr. King's life and legacy.

But while many people remember Dr. King battling racism, his true mission -- one yet to be fully realized -- was to build what he called a "beloved community" of people from all walks of life by seeing their commonalities rather than their differences, said the Rev. Peters.

"Everybody was involved -- there was no big me and little you," said the Rev. Peters, the Henry L. Hillman associate professor of urban ministry at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and a member of the East End Cooperative Ministry, an interfaith social services group. "Dr. King saw it first, how to break down barriers not just of race but any barrier between people."

Dr. King, whose leadership and effort helped desegregate the South and pass legislation guaranteeing blacks the right to vote, was born on Jan. 15, 1929, in Atlanta. He was shot and killed on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn.

At yesterday's gathering, which was co-hosted by the Lincoln Avenue Church of God, members of more than 45 congregations, parishes and institutions that are part of the East End Cooperative Ministry came together to remember Dr. King's work.

Ladies in mink hats mingled with those in Muslim head scarves. Men in sweater vests and borrowed yarmulkes talked to others in suits with shiny shoes. Blacks and whites, chatting and listening, sat in small groups near each other but not together.

All of them applauded music that ranged from Christian hymns and spirituals to Hebrew pop music and traditional arrangements, as Tree of Life Rabbi Stephen Listfield moved through the aisles, greeting his visitors with handshakes and waves and nods. And then all of them were reminded, in Dr. King's own words, of how much work remains for them to do.

In Montgomery, Ala., in 1965, as he fought for the right of blacks to vote, Dr. King told his supporters to march -- against segregated housing, against segregated schools, against poverty, against voting restrictions, said the Rev. David Herndon, pastor of First Unitarian Church in Shadyside. For all of us today, the "battle is in our hands," he said, reading Dr. King's speech "Our God Is Marching On!"

"The road ahead is not altogether a smooth one," he said, quoting from the speech. "There are no broad highways to lead us easily and inevitably to quick solutions. But we must keep going."

Part of the battle for Dr. King was, ironically, a battle for peace -- at that time, in Vietnam and Latin America. But first, Dr. King told his listeners in speeches during those years to get on the right side of world revolution the United States must undergo a rapid revolution in values, from a society of things to a society of people, according to the Rev. Eugene Downing, pastor of Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church in Larimer.

"True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar," the Rev. Downing read from Dr. King's speech "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence." "It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring."

And that's why the world must declare its eternal hostility to poverty, racism and war, said Sarah Jameela, of Oakland's Islamic Center of Pittsburgh. A worldwide fellowship, she said, also reading from Dr. King's speech "Beyond Vietnam," must raise neighborly concern above one's tribe, race, class and nation, and so preserve the best things about all societies.

"We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retribution," Ms. Jameela read. "The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tide of hate. And history is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate."

But we like to have someone to hate; it's difficult to love or trust people who've hurt us, especially if they've done it over and over again, said Rev. Peters.

The world can seem like a grim place where people don't like or trust those unlike them, he said, but it may be just that darkness that allows the light in some people, the hope in them, to shine most brightly.

Even as churches were being bombed and supporters were being lynched during the civil rights movement, Dr. King "would stand up and say, 'I can see a day when my four little children will not live like this,' " the Rev. Peters said.

So, following the old spiritual sung by slaves even as their families were being broken up and sold away, it's time to let "this little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine," he said.

"And then, sisters and brothers, we might create that community where all are welcomed," he said. "We're still seeking the beloved community."