Posted on 03/03/2005 6:10:29 PM PST by A. Pole
Hmm, why "Before Christian Era." is to be better than "Before Christ". The established usage is shorter and more elegant.
Next on the agenda is the dedication of young schoolboys to the Goddess Khali and the adoption of the rat as the national symbol of prosperity.
Good Grief!
Before long, some nervous ninny will be "offended" at the sight of a Christian church, and demand that they should be banned.
Then again, these are the kind of people who enjoy listening to themselves talk, so they'll consider it no chore.
At the instant that I hear "BCE" (before calendars existed or before common era) or "AD" (after dating), I immediately turn a deaf ear or turn the channel. I don't wait one second. I have never seen such academic arrogance and nastiness as the deliberate anti-Christianity involved. Academics should be ashamed of themselves.
I saw some nutcase on Hannity & Colmes last night arguing against the use of BC. He said that it its important to use the PC alternative because BC is not inclusive of all the non-Christians.
It was nauseating, and vomit-inducing. Basically it has now gotten to the point where to recognize the events which precipitated the change in historical dating is to be guilty of being insensitive to non-believers.
Even if this is so, then so what? The only people who get offended or upset by such things are people who go looking for things to offend them. To hell with such people! To set policy by such standards it to unconditionally surrender to the dogma of PC diversity.
Didn't you know, "Thou shalt not offend or make uncomfortable or be insensitive to non-Christians" is one of the commandments of the PC Diversity religion to which the left bows down to?
I thought in Canada it was always referred to as BCE -- "Before Christ, Eh?"
Sorry, but I think some of you are over-reacting. The use of C.E. and B.C.E. took hold in academic, particularly theological, circles, mostly among people who have no antipathy toward our faith. The simple fact is that various scholars studying written materials and other matters of ancient history are from a variety of faiths. I see this terminology not as p.c. overkill, but just common courtesy. Flame away.
Just doing your small part for the good of the whole. This is the most ridiculus nonsense I've ever heard. Why do we Americans feel such a strong need to be PC? Other countries do not bother.
Somehow we have determined that,one,everyone has a "right" to be not offended by anyone or anything; and that, two, "offense" shall be determined by the eye of the beholder.
It's ultimate subjectivity and empowerment to the unbalanced. All they need to do is cry "offended" and the rest of society must bow to their command.
I'm cool with "Before Christ Existed".
Or "Before Christian Era" (Since Christ has always existed)
My opinion on this matter (and I'm an atheist):
1) The majority of the general world population continues to prefer the usage of 'AD'/'BC'--and many are not even familiar with the 'CE'/'BCE' designations.
2) The specification of the Gregorian calendar rightfully resides with its inventor: The Roman Catholic Church. No changes to the specification of the Gregorian calendar have been authorized by the Pope since the introduction of the calendar. Therefore, 'AD' and 'BC' are still formally correct--and 'CE'/'BCE' are not.
3) The principle of reciprocity requires that each culture respect the standard conventions and usages of all other cultures, provided this does not involve the violation of rights. Since Jews (for example) have no right to not be offended by whatever name Christians choose to use for the eras of their calendar (just as Christians, Hindus, Muslims and atheists have no right to not be offended by the implications of the phrase 'anno mundi,') Christians have the right to name the eras of their calendar whatever they wish, and other cultures are required by the principle of reciprocity to respect it. Just because the names of certain cities in Thailand can be easily taken as vulgar words/phrases in English does not give English speakers the right to dictate to Thais what they call their cities. By the same principle, no one has the right to dictate to Christians what they call their calendar eras--and any attempt to do so is both ill-mannered and offensive.
It must also be mentioned that the stated reason by Jews for their unwillingness to use the designation 'anno domini'--namely, that they do not believe that Jesus is their 'lord'--is inconsistent and hypocritical. No one disputes their disbelief, nor their right to disbelieve (certainly not I--I'm an atheist.) However, Jews also do not believe that Yahshuah is 'ha Mashiahh' (that is, that Jesus is 'the Christ', both 'Mashiahh' and 'Christ' mean 'Annointed One,' a term with special significance in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures.) Consequently, to be logically consistent, Jews should also be unwilling to use the label 'Christian' in reference to the (self-proclaimed) disciples of Jesus, or to use the term 'Christ' to refer to the central figure of the Christian religion, since they emphatically do not believe this person to have been the Annointed One, nor that those called Christians are in fact the disciples of 'the real' Annoned One (who is yet to come, according to Jewish belief.) Therefore, failure by Jews to avoid all reference to the term 'Christ,' in all its forms (including 'Christian Era,') is thus blatantly and inarguably hypocritical, and renders their objections to 'anno domini' doubly offensive.
Of course, Christians also have no right to force others to use their calendar (or to follow their naming conventions.) Consequently, each individual is free to use whatever calendar and/or era names he/she thinks best. Nevertheless, a public school system should teach its students to use the linguistic conventions that are normative in the culture at large.
So, it's now 2005 After Common Era? ACE?
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