Posted on 04/25/2005 7:10:15 AM PDT by ZGuy
In certain precincts of a world encouraged to embrace differences, Christ is out.
The terms "B.C." and "A.D." increasingly are shunned by certain scholars.
Educators and historians say schools have been changing the terms "Before Christ," or B.C., to "Before Common Era," or B.C.E., and "anno Domini" (Latin for "in the year of the Lord") to "Common Era." In short, they're referred to as B.C.E. and C.E.
The new terms were introduced by academics in the 1990s in public elementary and high school classrooms.
Candace de Russy, a national writer on education and Catholic issues and a trustee for SUNY, doesn't accept the notion of fence-straddling. "The use of B.C.E. and C.E. is not mere verbal tweaking; rather it is integral to the leftist language police -- a concerted attack on the religious foundation of our social and political order," she said.
For centuries, B.C. and A.D. were used in public schools and universities. Some historians and college instructors started using the new forms as a less Christ-centric alternative.
"I think it's pretty common now," said Gary B. Nash, director of the National Center for History in the Schools. "Once you take a global approach, it makes sense not to make a dating system applicable only to a relative few."
But not everyone takes that pluralistic view.
"I find it distressing; I don't like it," said Gilbert Sewall, director of the American Textbook Council, which finds politics intruding on instruction. He said changing terms accepted for centuries because of a current social movement could threaten other long-held principles.
"Is that some sort of the political correctness?" said Tim Callahan, of the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, an independent group with 60,000 educator members. "It sounds pretty silly to me."
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
As a historian, this makes me nuts! FYI: Garry Nash, quoted in the article, is an extremely left-wing historian. Views everything through the prism of class.
It will always be A.D. for me.
Either that, or we could key everything to the date the U.N. was founded. That's what they want anyway, isn't it?
These people are motivated only by their hatred of God Himself.
What in the world does "common era" mean? It's BS.
When I hear archeologists and historians using this terminology, it drives me crazy. The PC crowd won't be satisfied until they eliminate Christ completely.
"common era" = "after Christ"
What a bunch of transparent and shallow blowhards!
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I did not speak out
because I was not a communist.
When they came for the social democrats,
I did not speak out
because I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists
I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews
I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew;
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
-- Martin Niemöller
VOMIT
Last night Larry King had a panel of religious scholars, etc. discussing what happens when we die. Life after death or not. One woman, an atheist, had the gall to announce that Jesus Christ had never existed at all.
If I am watching a history documentary and they start with that BCE and CE crap, I switch the channel immediately.
Luckily, most of the history books I have read still use the proper notations of BC and AD.
Just because you don't believe Jesus was divine does not negate the reality of his birth. How ridiculous. I don't follow Mohammad, but I believe he walked the Earth!
Naive is as naive does. This effort is straight from the pit of hell, Tim.
Infuriating ain't it.
This infuriates me too, but could we refer to it as "Christain Era"? That would really send the christophodes off the deep end.
"It will always be A.D. for me."
ME, TOO!! When this crapola comes out, it makes me want to say it just to tick someone off!!
LOL. It works a lot better for the totally predictable rants that it happened in the CE (the Clinton Era).
That the expression predates Clinton by 20 years is a completely annoying fact that we will simply have to bury.
What's the problem? "BC" and "AD" are known to be at least 4 years off; "CE" and "BCE" are correct by definition.
Nothing new here. Most of your mainline seminaries (where they train clergy) have been using BCE for over 2 decades.
This only proves that sometimes the press is asleep for long periods of time.
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