A.D., B.C. - not P.C.

The American Thinker ^ | November 18th, 2004 | Selwyn Duke

[AmishDude]

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.

Perhaps, but "before Jesus" wouldn't have any such implications as to the nature of this Jesus of Nazareth guy.

Of course, BJ isn't going to be put into use anytime soon.

[ConservativeBamaFan]

That's what I was thinking, but you beat me to it!!!

[Baraonda]

"I know why CE/BCE was created and that doesn't change the obnoxious character of it's use."

Bullseye!!!!

[meema]

bttt

[talleyman]

Sorry, I meant "8 September." But if I can get my own signup date wrong...

No error at all - you were merely (and cleverly) showing an example of how the the "slippage" inherent in reconciling the calendrical, solar and sidereal years - net of cumulative adjustments - without consideration of the earth's orbital oscillation and the precession of the poles can produce varying calculation results. Well done.

[Oztrich Boy]

Not a very "Christian" response...

au contarire 'tis a very "Christian" response

[Oztrich Boy]

Or, better yet, as another poster suggested, use "in the year of our Lord xx," and "in the year before our Lord xx."

and be preparted to tolerate people who use "in the year of your Lord xx, and "in the year before your Lord xx"

[smcmike]

BP is commonly used in anthropology and archaeology, and actually makes a lot of sense.

[Junior]

Counting starts at 0 (0-9, 10-19, 20-29, etc.). The calendar should start the same way. Remember, the folks at the time were not using our calendar; retroactively introducing a year 0 would have no other effect than to change, by one, all the dates prior.

[Junior]

Nothing you've said would obviate the retroactive introduction of a year 0. The only thing standing in the way is tradition.

[Oztrich Boy]

Counting starts at 0 (0-9, 10-19, 20-29, etc.).

Ask 100 people to count up to 5.
note the number on which they start.
get back to me.

[Oztrich Boy]

The only thing standing in the way is tradition.

Gonna go with Edmund Burke on this one.

[Junior]

Mathematics is not a popularity contest. One hundred people could tell you the sky was red, but that wouldn't change the fact it was blue.

[Ditto]

Are you advocating we should change the current date to 2008

Great idea. I could skip 4 years of mortgage payments. ;~))

[Queen Jadis]

B.C. [Before Christ] and A.D. [Anno Domini]

Does anyone know why B.C abbrv.uses "English" and A.D abbrv. uses "Latin". I have never been able to come up with a logical explanation for this. I figure you smart freepers may be able to give me an explanation for this.

[Nakota]

Hmm, I thought "B.P." would stand for Bull Puckey.

[FreedomCalls]

Counting starts at 0 (0-9, 10-19, 20-29, etc.). The calendar should start the same way.

Do you want the days of the month to start with 0 as well? November 31, 2004 followed by December 0, 2004? A year is an ordinal number, not a cardinal number. I explained it earlier. This is the 2004th year since Christ's birth. The first year he was alive is the First Year AD. A year is a span of time, not a point in time.

[FreedomCalls]

The Latin word for "before" is "ante" so the abbreviation would be the same for both I guess.

[Junior]

Dude, y'all are going off the deep end on this. The months needn't change. Retroactively adding a year 0, however, makes counting dates across the great divide a whole lot easier. It also eliminates the need for the AD/BC/CE/BCE squabble; years prior to 0 would be designated with the minus sign.

I don't understand the antipathy to the concept of a year 0. As far as I can tell, the only objection, and it's a valid objection, is tradition. Some folks like a little clunkiness in their dating systems.

[FreedomCalls]

The calendar should start the same way.[with the year zero]

Then also you should want New Year's Day to be the Zeroth day of January (which should be the zeroth month in the year, not the first). And would we celebrate Independence day on July Third?