Posted on 11/18/2004 10:39:06 AM PST by .cnI redruM
What we've got is close enough for government work...
Let them. It is not wise to attack a city that possesses excellent writers.
Now, there's a useful scale. Changes every day. Where do these doofus losers come from anyway?
Maybe to help our Blue staters we could reset the clock just for them and call it BGB (before George Bush)
The birth of Christ is, frankly, as good as any whether you're Christian or not. It has the advantage of long usage. The Muslims use the Hejira, which is just as arbitrary (and contains similar but smaller elements of uncertainty). But "B.C.E." and "C.E." are simply silly. Using a reference point while pretending to ignore the referent is an insult to anyone's intelligence.
Everything that is significant in the world began on 9 September 1998. Someday soon historians will be using BBtD and ABtD. Or else.
(1) The Gregorian reform of the calendar took place in the year 1581 of the Julian calendar and the year 1582 of the current Gregorian system.
Not in the 900s. You're off by about 600 years.
(2) One of the reasons why the calendar was adjusted was precisely because of the concern that the inaccuracy of the Julian calendar was falsifying the dating system with regard to Christ's birth.
(3) The date of 4 BC for the actual birth of Christ is a guess by some scholars. It isn't an established fact and a case can be made for the year 1. It would be silly to alter our calendar every time scholars changed their mind about the real dating of the Nativity.
Though I could really care less what terminology anyone else uses, I use bce and ce. Let me explain to you why. The term before "Christ" automatically acknowledges Jesus as the Messiah and son of G-d. Since I a Jew do not believe he was (is) it makes no sense for me to use the term BC. In respect of the Christian calender which bases its 2 era's on the life and death of Jesus I believe that by using the same timeline but not acknowledging Jesus as more than a Rabbi ie. BC, I am showing respect to your religion while not using terminology which defies mine. Let me know what you all think.
-Priceofreedom-
Sorry, I meant "8 September." But if I can get my own signup date wrong...
Ditto. BCE and CE are obnoxious and wouldn't be done if they were taken from any non-Christian dating system. I'm taking a Chinese archaeology class and the American instructor uses CE/BCE. Interestingly, the Chinese don't use them. They use AD and BC when using Gregorian dates.
I noticed this when I returned to college in the early 90s, for an advanced degree. I had to take more history, and kept seeing "BCE" and "CE," and couldn't figure out what it meant. When I finally figured out what it meant, I was incensed. But what could I do? If there's a way to stop this PC madness, I' love to know what it is. This essay is right on track, I couldn't agree more.
I always use BC and AD. If the professor insists on using CE and BCE, usually I put a description: Christian Era and Before Christian Era.
I thought the calender had been corrected for that a long time ago. Is that still how it is? I'd heard that also, many years ago, but I thought the last update to our calender system was corrected for this. Does anyone have the real scoop on that?
No BC or AD? Fine, how about we call the current year 228 US. New Years Day will from now on occur on July 4.
Oh, you don't like this? Suck lemons.
It seems to me, if we really want to be totally PC and not offend anybody, there are only two solutions. One, we reference from the date the earth was condensed out of a blob of dust and gas ("BE" for Birth of Earth). I think that was about 4 billion years ago. Now pinpointing this exact date could pose a problem and there may be a bit more uncertainty than there is about the birth of Jesus. At the other extreme, we could use the aforementioned "Before Present" reference point. We all certainly know when the present is, there's no doubt about that. This is very useful to university academics because there are no longer any absolutes in the academy -- everything is relative anyway. Furthermore, academics insist on rewriting history anyway, so what's the point of having a fixed reference date if history is going to change? Just look at the Clinton library that opened today. Instead of "Impeachment," it focuses on "Persecution." That's rapid fire revisionism and strongly supports the use of BP over the use of BE. Since there's not point fighting the tide of liberalist fantasies, I suggest we pick on, be done with it and get on with our lives.
Looked fine to me. Better than a few airplanes crashing into buildings to get your point across....
They can take the "Common Era" and stick it where the sun don't shine.
LOL! I'm going to practice that one!
Yeah, the 'educated' archeologists have been using BCE and CE for awhile.
Trying to figure out what years they are speaking about is insane.
Thanks for the info, wideawake! It's exactly what I was looking for. God, I love Free Republic.
Never really thought of it that way, I guess its a clear example of the shocking difference of the "religion of peace" and the rest of us.
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