BBC drops Anno Domini and Before Christ to avoid offending non-Christians

UK Telegraph ^ | September 25 2011 | Claire Duffin

[knighthawk]

The BBC has been accused of bowing to political correctness after it emerged that it was discouraging the use of the terms BC and AD for fear of offending non-Christians.

The Corporation's religion website states that it opts for the "religiously neutral" Common Era and Before Common Era, rather than Anno Domini (the year of Our Lord) and Before Christ.

It goes on: "As the BBC is committed to impartiality it is appropriate that we use terms that do not offend or alienate non-Christians."

But critics said the changes were meaningless because, just like AD and BC, the alternative terms still denote years in relation to the life of Christ.

[Tzfat]

Well no doubt, but it’s bad history to walk away from the history of the system that you do use.

Hence, the system of dating BCE and CE - to orient to the system without perpetuating the myth. The fact is, most people that get bent out of shape about this don't even know about the discrepancy - they simply knee-jerk to think it is a conspiracy or political correctness.

No doubt some use BCE and CE for political correctness, but there are many, many of us that use it because we are more interested in accurate history than we are in perpetuating Roman Catholic traditions.

[cornelis]

There is no such thing as a neutral calendar. Winner takes all.

[Tzfat]

There is no such thing as a neutral calendar. Winner takes all.

Really? If you use a computer, you employ the Julian calendar every day, along with numerous floating point adaptations.

[newzjunkey]

It didn’t just start. It’s been going on for decades. Catholic schools were using history texts with BCE and CE in the 1980s.

[AnalogReigns]

Not to sound anti-Semitic, but the first time I read about the BCE/CE thing was in an biblical archeological journal....and it appeared they used it so as not to alienate Jewish readers.

I can understand it must be a bit galling for the whole world to use the date of a man’s birth your religion teaches was wrong...

[Tzfat]

it must be a bit galling for the whole world to use the date of a man’s birth your religion teaches was wrong.

Jesus was not born in 1 AD. He was not born any later than 4 BCE, which is a historical fact that Dionysius Exiguus, was unaware of when he devised the system in the Sixth Century.

So, it may just irk people (like me) to use a dating system that incorrectly dates a very important man's birth. It has been between 2,014 to 2,017 years since the birth of Jesus - not 2011.

[cornelis]

Those devious journals. You weren't really taken in, were you? But just in case, don't forget that a world calendar must exorcise both Saturday and Sunday (ex + horkizein to bind by oath, getting rid of what is troublesome and oppressive)--the gods must be voted out, just like they did with Pluto.

[cornelis]

Julian calendar! Does it pass ISO 8601? What happened to dear Ms. Achelis?

In other news, justice departments sue computer companies on both sides of the Atlantic. Computing CEOs push to put their wares in schools—little kids schools. Who is the most useless strumpf in this galactic necromancy?

[Atlas Sneezed]

OK, I’ve read the whole flippin’ thread. I’ve also had my end-of-day cocktail.

All this debate about letters and terminology...

Yet when it comes down to it... What is measured is measured in terms of Jesus Christ and his incarnation on Earth.

It’s not important what they call (or abbreviate) the eras. The eras are defined numerically by Him. The atheists in the academy are kneeling before the Lord when they use His time to measure their pursuits.

Name it what you want, but He is the measurer of all. His time measures all time.

[Ax]

The first time I saw the BC/AD changed was in a Michener novel, “The Source,” in about 1966. I’m sticking with that.

[GOPJ]

The ONLY people they’re afraid to ‘offend’ are Muslims. That will work out well for them... /s

[cornelis]

Michener? Astarte! You're sticking to Astarte! I just watched the "Diving Bell and the Buttefly." A wonderful film, (the exact opposite of "My Left Foot") but a lot of Astarte. Michener's Astartes are stick and stone, Schnabel's are flesh and blood, plus a blinking Madonna. Lots of artists need lots of Astarte--it must be the consciousness of power. Astrologers are way ahead of these cryptographic peddlers worried about offending. The historian John Lukacs also ruminated that we go to war for our women--got it first from him. Don't know if I'm sticking with it, but once an idea kisses, that's it. He also thinks we've come to the end of the modern era and that we need to reconsider the idea of objectivity in science. I read that in a magazine about two decades years after I put down Michener's book, in the year of our Lord, 1987.

[Revolting cat!]

Well, Anne Domini is a well known porn star, while BC is a comic strip character.

[SoCal Pubbie]

The phrase”common era” has no meaning. What does a Taoist devotee in China have in common with a Roman Catholic that can be traced to 2011 years ago in the Middle East? The reference point is still based on an estimation of the birth of Christ made by Western authorities. The Gregorian calendar was even adopted in China until 1912 so how can it possible be in common?

[SoCal Pubbie]

..was not EVEN adopted...

[BenKenobi]

Do you teach who actually created the system you now use?

[BenKenobi]

Well:

“ante vero incarnationis dominicae tempus”

Is a bit wordy.

[Minus_The_Bear]

As usual they still use Christ as the demarcation in history... so they are still referencing him without saying his name.

These people are so stupid.

[xp38]

During the French Revolution they tried a completely new calendar but it didn’t stick and eventually the older one came back in use. If it didn’t work 200+ years ago it wouldn’t now because it is so much more entrenched that it was then.

[the scotsman]

Yep.

Just as we were in 1815, 1914, 1940, 1956 and 1982.