CE is not meaningless, especially since the monk, (who about 900 CE decided to figure all dates back from when he thought the Birth of Christ occured) made a few errors. Luke dates the Birth with a census which occured about 6CE, and Matthew dates the Birth with the death of Herod the Great, say 4 BCE.
That is why scholars don't use AD. We don't know when it was, but we are pretty good at relating things to the Common timeline.
To be fair, the monk had a tough job. Each Roman emperor died when he died, and the last year of his rule was usually also the first year of the next emperor's rule. Emperors also claimed authority over the East, over the West, and some dated their documents based on when they became "Caesar" rather than when they became "Augustus". What we do have is a good solid timeline since the Roman Principate, in large part due to his work.
No, it is because they are a bunch of facists Nazis who are trying to co-opt the calendar. Regardless of the error (yes, Christ was born 4-6 years Before Christ, silly aint it?), the calendar we have was devised by a Christian monk (Little Dennis) and was later altered by the Pope. Its focal point is the birth of the man who has changed this Earth more than any other person in history who has ever lived.
If the secularists don't like that, they can create their own calendar. The Chinese have their own calendar and so do the Jews. Does anyone use them? Sure, lots of people. But many more don't, and the secularists know that the only way to have a calendar not centered on Christ that people would use is to blatantly steal the current system and erase Christ from it.
There is nothing COMMON about their so-called COMMON ERA. It doesn't date to the start of the Roman Empire, any particular advancement in civilization, any Earth-shattering moment or cosmic line-up of the heavens. It's B.C. with an extra letter and A.D. being whitewashed.
And NO ONE should take anyone who using those bastardized (apropos, the usage has no legitimate parcentage) concoctions shouldn't be taken seriously. They should be mocked and shunned.
TS