Posted on 04/25/2005 7:18:19 AM PDT by Irontank
In a world encouraged to embrace differences, B.C. and A.D. are increasingly finding themselves on the wrong end of the religious sensitivity meter.
Educators and historians say schools from North America to Australia have been changing the terms Before Christ to Before Common Era and anno Domini (Latin for "year of the Lord") to Common Era. In short, they're referred to as B.C.E. and C.E.
The change has stoked the ire of Christian conservatives and some religious leaders who view it as an attack on a social and political order that has been in place for centuries. Ironically, for more than a century Hebrew lessons have used B.C.E. and C.E., with C.E. sometimes referring to Christian Era.
That begs the question: Can old and new coexist in harmony, or must one give way to the other to reflect changing times and attitudes?
The terms B.C. and A.D. have clear Catholic roots. Dionysius Exiguus, an abbot in Rome, devised them as a way to determine the date for Easter for Pope St. John I. The terms were continued under the Gregorian Calendar.
Although most calendars are based on an epoch or person, B.C. and A.D. have always presented a particular problem for historians: There is no year zero.
"When Jews or Muslims have to put Christ in the middle of our calendar ... that's difficult for us," said Steven Brown, dean of the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education at The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City. "They are hard for non-Jews, because they assume a centrality of Jesus ... it's not offensive, but it's not sensitive to my religious sensibilities."
The new terms were introduced by academics in the 1990s in public elementary and high school classrooms.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
To Muslims it's the 14th century....always will be.
I was astounded when they used the term "common era" to date an event. Not much doubt as to the bias of that program.
Unbelieveable. Don't these haters have anything else to do? On second thought, probably not.
"...it's not offensive, but it's not sensitive to my religious sensibilities."
Wouldn't it be lovely if more people adopted this attitude about every thing that currently 'offends' them.
Yeah, the History Channel has been doing that for several years now. The first time I encountered this, it took me a few minutes to figure out exactly what "B.C.E." meant, and once it dawned on me, I was more than annoyed at the pretense.
Well, I don't really care what they think.
POSTED BY WINONE4THEGIPPER ON APRIL 25, AND 2005 YEARS AFTER THE BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST...
=== The change has stoked the ire of Christian conservatives and some religious leaders who view it as an attack on a social and political order that has been in place for centuries
Well, duh ...
It's certainly a pity his "faithbased" constituency didn't inquire more deeply about the "New World Order" which featured so prominently in most of George H. Bush's speechifying.
Likewise, Pro-lifers probably should have taken a look-see at his use of "down breeding," "genetic quality," and Biological Revolution.
Devil's in the details.
=== Ironically, for more than a century Hebrew lessons have used B.C.E. and C.E., with C.E. sometimes referring to Christian Era.
More than a century. Wonder who got that ball rolling.
I suspect it was the same brand of secularist as those who conceived of the ultimate politicization of faith that is Zionism.
BCE and CE is unbelievably dorky.
Actually, using the Hebrew calendar and year system wouldn't be too bad. It WOULD emphasize a young earth timeline, though.................
I had a few good debates on this thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1379975/posts
The self appointed overseer class must destroy civilization so that is can be rebuilt in their image.
LIBERALS is unbelievably dorky.(sic)............
Yeesh, it still means the same thing. Just because you change the name to "common era" doesn't mean you're still not referring to the birth of Christ.
It won't be long before it will be illegal just to mention the name of Jesus in public, except to swear.
LOL> Maybe we ought to just covert to the Mayan calendar. After all, it only goes on til 2012... then ends for some inexplicable reason (the kooks think the Mayans predicted the end of the world.... maybe they did).
Given the way Daylights Savings about to be yanked about again, I see no reason not to expect something more along the lines of a Metric, as opposed to monthly, calendar soon enough.
But I'm curious ... what do you mean by "It WOULD emphasize a young earth timeline, though................."
"When Jews or Muslims have to put Christ in the middle of our calendar ... that's difficult for us," said Steven Brown, dean of the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education at The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City. "They are hard for non-Jews, because they assume a centrality of Jesus ... it's not offensive, but it's not sensitive to my religious sensibilities."
Seriously, dude, toughen up. People all over the world have real problems, life and death dilemmas, while you sit around contemplating your navel and fretting over the theological implications of the date you scribble on your checks.
Get a hobby to occupy your obviously underemployed mind.
http://www.hebcal.com/converter/
The current year is 5765 (number of years after creation).
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