The BBC said it was up to producers and editorial teams to decide which date system to use PA
Posted on 09/29/2011 2:02:11 PM PDT by NYer
The BBC said it was up to producers and editorial teams to decide which date system to use PA
The BBC has come under strong criticism after reports appeared in the media stating that it is encouraging the use of the secular date references Common Era and Before Common Era, over Anno Domini and Before Christ.
Anger has grown following a recent article by Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens, who accused the Corporation of bowing to political correctness and attempting to “write Christianity out of our culture” after University Challenge presenter Jeremy Paxman used CE rather than AD in reference to a date.
The BBC clarified in a statement on Saturday that it does not insist on the use of the CE and BCE terms.
“The BBC has not issued guidance on the dates system. Both AD and BC, and CE and BCE are widely accepted dates systems and the decision on which term to use lies with individual production and editorial teams,” it said.
James Naughtie, the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, told The Telegraph he was not aware of any change.
“Nobody has suggested this to me, and if they do, they will get a pithy answer, which may be too pithy to share with readers of the Telegraph,” he said.
BBC presenter Andrew Marr also said he would continue to use AD and BC because “that’s what I understand”.
“I don’t know what the Common Era is. Why is it the Common Era in 20AD and it wasn’t the Common Era in 20BC?” he said during his Sunday morning show on BBC1.
The BBC’s Religious and Ethics Department explains on its website that it uses BCE and CE in order to be “religiously neutral”.
It states on its FAQs page: “In line with modern practice bbc.co.uk/religion uses BCE/CE (Before Common Era/Common Era) as a religiously neutral alternative to BC/AD. As the BBC is committed to impartiality it is appropriate that we use terms that do not offend or alienate non-Christians.”
The use of CE and BCE has been criticised by Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, who said it was “unnecessary”.
Writing in The Telegraph today, London Mayor Boris Johnson described moves to adopt CE and BCE as “absolute drivel” and “deeply anti-democratic”.
“Objecting to the use of Christ’s birth to mark each year is puerile political correctness,” he said.
“I urge all those who are fed up with the advance of pointless political correctness to fight back.”
As if they matter.
They are the same system. One just pretends to forget why the date exists.
BBC
Before Bull Cr@p!
And what was the event that changed it to the common era? And common to who, by the way?
Peter Hitchens - the sensible brother
Before Christian Era
Christian Era
National Geographic Channel does this all the time. They might as well be singing John Lennon’s “Imagine”.
“Reality, we don’t need no stinkin’ REALITY!”
The reality is that all years and all time belong to God. All of human history revolves around Christ, whether or not the Beebe or the MSM or National Geographic likes it. I would not be surprised at all to see the Federal Government ban the use of BC and AD, “to avoid hurting sensitive feelings of the non-Christians in our midst”.
Hot dog! We have a new phobia, “chrononomenclaphobic”!
When explaining this within earshot of liberals, subsitute 'common' with 'christian'. CE = 'Christian Era" BCE="Before Christian Era". Their heads will explode.
For me, both personally and professionally, it doesn’t matter which is used. They both use the same base standard of date (Christ’s traditional year of birth). I use both, but admittedly, I am more likely to use BC/AD with a Christian audience and BCE/CE with an academic one, however I often use them interchangeably in my papers and lectures.
That aside, BBC is know for its hatred of Christianity anyway. I’m surprised they haven’t gone a the Muslim system of dating.
They should be happy with this!
So, have they given any thought to explaining exactly what denotes the Common Era?
Space men? Volitile oils? Water skis? What about lumpy straw mattresses?
Hmmmm....This is like Causebon looking for a unifying theory of myths.
Exactly. They are interchangeable. The ironic part is that trying to erase Christ from the dating, they’ve ensured that everyone knows it.
If they just stuck with BC and AD, no one would really care. But since they switched it, people need to learn 2 systems. Then people become curious why there are 2 systems.
If they were smart, they would have redefined BC and AD. BC could still be Before Common era. AD could be After Developed Era. It would still be silly, but the little kids could learn to use BC and AD without being curious why there are 2 systems.
Keep BC and tell them it means “backwards counting.” AD means “after dat.”
Ungland...
They are the same system. One just pretends to forget why the date exists.
Yes, and the endgame is for everyone else to forget (or at least pretend to) as well. Not going to work...
the infowarrior
I’ve been aware of this political trend by historians for years. Some of the books by these historians were being used at a local Christian college and the Christians there didn’t seem to have a problem with it.
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