I just heard about this controversy, people wanting to rename BC (Before Christ) to BCE (Before Common Era) and AD (Anno Domini - (in the) year of the lord) to CE (Common Era)….
Is this really something worth worrying about or worse, spending money on? Does it really matter at all? I think it lost any religious significance a long time ago and don’t see a need to worry about assigning official secular names. In fact, I doubt many people could even tell you what BC and AD stand for; go ask 10 people and post the results - make sure some of the people are under 30, I am curious. About the only thing it seems to be accomplishing is riling up the right wing.
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April 29th, 2006 at 8:34 am
It’s the controversy du jour. When I was growing up, it was BC and AD everywhere, but on the History and Discovery Channels–where I get most of my history these days–it’s BCE and CE. Really, who cares?
I like to keep things simple and if they both mean the same thing (which they do), the basic requirement for clear communication has been met and no one is confused. Except, that is, for those who don’t know and don’t care–almost everyone under 30.
May 1st, 2006 at 11:45 am
Good luck getting such loaded terms as “Before Christ” and “Anno Domini” adopted by Arab-speaking (and therefore, mostly Muslim) countries. And yet, all the dates that computers work on are based on this exact range.
However, if you say “well, those dates are already in common use, but historical data indicates that they don’t _actually_ match with anything related to Christ, so we’ll just refer to them with a different name”, and you can sell to the whole world, without concern that they might get offended over your apparent ties to a single religion.
Yes, it’s worth doing - certainly more worth doing than trying to distinguish between GMT and UTC.
June 2nd, 2006 at 7:50 am
Just another sign of the decay of the “west”. Let’s just replace every historical term. Wonder how many people have indicated they are offended? Seems to me the change is being made by people who are afraid of offending others but with nothing to substantiate that “offense”. And as for latin, it’s a dead language so why not bury it.
Of course, many nations have their own calendar that is not the Gregorian calendar and does not have Year 1 starting with the birth of Jesus. Can’t say I’m offended by that when I visit them, I just have to figure out what year it is, so what?
(Forget Greenwich as well, where’s that? Another historical anachronism that people are too lazy to recall? lol).
Kill multiculturism - forget history, start afresh with a new world order (and make the same mistakes all over again). What a wimpy world we live in, so sad.
April 6th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
If you dont like this calendar, make up your own! Use a jewish calendar! This ones working perfectly, so why use ce and bce?
THIS IS NOT A BIG DEAL. I MYSELF AM A CHRISTIAN, AND REALLY DONT CARE. THE CHURCH IS MAKING A BIG DEAL OUT IF THIS. ATHEISTS ARE MAKING A BIG DEAL OUT OF THIS. is the cash really worth spending to change textbooks?
i like bc and ad. This is yet another attempt for the dagon atheists to remove christan influence from the planet.
And one more thing. if religous influence must be removed from something as insignificant as a calendar, why not change the days of the week (named after norse gods) and the months of the year(named after roman gods) while your at it?
October 12th, 2007 at 7:56 am
There’s a big difference bewteen days and months named after Norse or Roman gods and a calendar based on Christ. There are not large groups, cultures, civilizations who feel their beliefs and traditions are being undermined or given less respect than thos of followers of Norse or Roman gods - as everybody is clearly aware.
It is not a movement on the part of athiests, but those who feel the world of today must become inclusive, that all cultures and religions must work together to combat extremism by encouraging peace, dialogue, cooperation as we enter a new century. Of course it’s easy for Christians (and I’m one) to say “it’s no big deal to me”, but do think about how you’d feel if this refered to Mohamed or Allah instead?
It’s one thing being laid back and comfortable with BC, calling others “politically correct” - but we’re the ones who can’t deal with “French” fries when France disagrees with us in a democratic debate?
March 7th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
BC/AD versus BCE/CE
Suggesting that the references BC-AD “Before Christ†and “Anno Domini†in Christian calendar be changed, is and ought to be offensive to Christians. It is one thing to be offended by the use of the Christian calendar and quite another to suggest changing its’ name or the reference BC-AD.
No one is asking Hindus, Moslems, or Jews etc. to rename or change references in their calendars so as not to offend anyone. (E.g., AH or AM to CE) To suggest that they do so would clearly be offensive even if these calendars were adopted by others.
Those who are offended by the use of the Christian calendar are clearly free to use or advocate for the use of any other calendar or to develop one more to their liking. If this is inconvenient, then continue to use the Christian calendar, but use it as is.