>>>Riddle me this: what the heck is the common era? Truth is, they are still using the time of Christ's birth (well, off by four years, but who's counting?) as the baseline for their computations. Nothing has been changed, its just a PC PR move to obscure the truth and drive Christianity out of the mainstream.
The common era is using the supposed birth date of Jesus as its base. However, it leaves the question of his divinity (Christ/Messiah/Annointed One) out of the issue. Do you think that Jewish scholars working with israeli antiquities should have to use Before Christ in dating items when they do not recognize Jesus as the Messiah?
Not hardly. If Jesus is not the Messiah, then there is no reason to use his birth as a baseline for anything. The use of his birth as a divider in history is an implicit acknowledgement that the world was permanently altered by the birth of Jesus and in a way that is totally and completely unique.
One might argue that the founding of Christianity, whether it is true or not, could count as it has had a profound affect on the entire planet. I would point out that, if Christianity is false, then Buddha and Muhammed have just has much right as Jesus, but no one uses them. Why? Because, that is not the reason the year was used. It is used because Jesus is The Christ and that his birth, life, death, and resurrection sanctified many were else there would have been none.
"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God" (John 1:12-13)
Do you think that Jewish scholars working with israeli antiquities should have to use Before Christ in dating items when they do not recognize Jesus as the Messiah?
If they are going to do it anyway, then call a spade a spade.