December should be a fun month for the religious community. You have Christmas, the beginning of Hajj, and Hanukkah. The three Abrahamic religions have three major holidays in the same month. This should be a time where the global religious community is celebrating and honoring religious diversity. Instead we are focused on fear-based religious strife.

Please note that I am not excluding the holidays and festivals that other religions have during this period. However, for this column, I want to offer a message to the three religions that I feel make this globe an extremely perilous place at this point and time in our history, because of their inability to see beyond differences and find what is common.

In a speech about inter-religious dialogue, Pope John Paul II said: "What unites us is much greater than what separates us. ... It is necessary ... to rid ourselves of stereotypes, of old habits. And above all, it is necessary to recognize the unity that already exists." This statement is full of wisdom and guidance for Christians, Jews and Muslims, especially as to how they should approach this holy season.

Christmas, Hanukkah, and Hajj are full of rituals that make their faithful focus intensely on their meaning and purpose. The intensity of these three celebrations can foster a sense of pride and wonderment in the adherents of these three religions. This is fine. It's even great.

However, I would urge them not to be so consumed and intensely focused on their particular celebration and forget that this is a sacred time for other traditions as well. For example, as we celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah in the West, how many of us remember or even know that Hajj begins this month. The only reason I remembered this is because I read the Interfaith Calendar each month.

So in my opinion, what John Paul was really asking us to do in his statement was to step outside our traditions and look at our neighbors and honor our differences and celebrate the common values and morals that unite us. This requires more than talking or thinking about it. It requires action.

So what can we do? First, we can start by talking to our neighbors. If you are Christian, ask your Jewish or Muslim neighbors how their families or communities will celebrate or honor these sacred days. Your Jewish or Muslim neighbors can do the same.

Another thing you can do is to invite your Christian, Jewish or Muslim neighbor to join you at your church, mosque or temple. You can even invite them to a holiday dinner or feast. If you are not comfortable with or ready for this type of interaction, try reading about the various other sacred celebrations that are being observed this month. This is a good place to start. These seem like small things. They are not small at all, because if each of us did just one of these things, we would lay a large and sturdy foundation for peace and community building.

There are many groups and communities that promote these types of activities, and they should be honored for their good work. As an interfaith minister, I belong to one. The problem is that not enough of us are willing to take a step away from what we know to experience something new or different.

This fear of having our beliefs and assumptions challenged is what makes this world a very perilous place, as I said above. I have said this repeatedly in this column. And, I think it needs repeating, because during this month of December there will be stark reminders of this peril when we see the body count from Iraq and the Middle East on the news every day. So please, in this holiday season go out and talk to your neighbor and find what already unites us and not what divides us.

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Rev. Jay Speights is an interfaith minister and main United Nations representative for The New Seminary in New York. He has a master's degree in public policy. You can learn more about his work at the United Nations at The New Seminary website. His email address is {email jayspeights@newseminary.org}jayspeights@newseminary.org{/email}. © copyright 2006 by Jay Speights