BCE, CE vs BC, AD?

Question

This has been bugging me since I heard about it. They are using BCE ( Before common era) for BC and CE( Common era) for AD to not offend anyone.

Why is it that christians don't stand up and say stop it. Christians are a group too and I understand that christians seem to have more tolerance and forgiveness than most and aren't offended so easily, but at some point in time we are going to have to stand up for ourselves and tell them our traditions are there for a reason.

Also, What happens when a kid asked what happened to make it common era? Is the teacher being a state employ going to be able to use the word Christ?

Answer 1

It's *been* BC and AD for centuries, and it always will be. What we've been seeing lately with that "BCE" and "CE" crap is a desperate attempt (and temporary fad) by some losers who clearly have too much time on their hands, to minimize Jesus' role in world history.

And HERE is what's HILARIOUS about that: "BCE" and "CE" use the SAME reference point in time as BC and AD. So those BCE and CE whackoes are accomplishing **nothing**!!

Answer 2

Non-Christians have lived with a Christian-based notation for almost 1500 years without "standing up and saying stop it." How long has BCE/CE been around? A few hundred years, if you count early usages.

Personally I don't care either way. I'm just amused that when someone challenges what you think is right, you're all up in arms, yet forcing what you think is right upon others is acceptable. The people promoting BCE/CE are just as "right" as the people promoting BC/AD. Perhaps there's a bit more reason to just keep the BC/AD notation since it's been around so long.

Federal/State employees may talk about Christ in a historical sense as much as they desire.

Answer 3

I don't see the problem with changing it. The Christians must take the step off of their pedistal and take their place amongst the other religions of the world. No other religion has a claim on the calendar system, do they? No other religion has time named after it... no, Christians must learn that they are no better than a Jew, Islamic or Hindu. They are the same as every other religion in the world, as law states that no religion shall be forced upon any person.

Forcing your time keeping on the entire world is forcing your religion on the entire world. Before Christ and After Death were absolutely insulting to me, as a non-jesus believer because I had to say BC and AD despite the fact that I believed neither in Christ or anything that his followers claim he stood for, cherrypicking ideas is what they do now a days.

BCE has no religion attached to it. It simply renames the keeping of time so that Christians no longer have their feet shoved up everyone's... you know.

Answer 4

I've used BC and AD my whole life and clearly remember reading letters to the editor in many prominent scientific journals written by irate Christians who were outraged that atheist scientists were using an abbreviation of Christ's holy name to define a mere point in time. The scientific community responded respectfully by creating the modern designations BCE and CE to avoid rubbing Christian sensitivities the wrong way. I can virtually guarantee that the scientific community will laugh in the faces of Christians thoughtless enough to insist that the old designations be reinstated.

Edit: By the way, this is old business. BCE and CE have been commonly used in scientific journals for many decades.

Answer 5

It's sort of a moot point.
The mere fact that BCE numbers descend, and CE number ascend is an acknowledgment that Jesus Christ changed the way that time is measured.

Do I hear the Holy Spirit chuckling at man's attempt to be politically correct?
Yes, I think I do.

Jesus will be increasingly deleted from human society.
But He will always resides inside every Believer.

Answer 6

They are using the Christian calendar, but don’t want to credit the Christians. This is plagiarism . If someone used the all the data, methods and results of a scientist who uses BCE and CE, but did not credit him, he would scream “or intellectual theft”. These people are dishonest. Plagiarists should be bared from receiving research grants.

Answer 7

Doesn't matter to me. Either case the date itself is still with reference to Christ's birth. Like it's 2007 years since what happened? Should anti-Christians stop writing the date since in doing so they're giving deference to Christ?

I wonder if in the Millenial Kingdom there will be another abbreviation (DL - day of the Lord)

Answer 8

Um, why do you think it's your right to have an age named after something you believe in? I don't understand. You Christians get too caught up in what you perceive to be "rights" that you forget what rights are. If it said Before Muhammad or Before Pilate, I honestly wouldn't care much, but if people were really offended and wanted to make it completely neutral, I would support them. We are not singling you Christians out, it's just that so much of Christianity is embedded in our culture and language.

Answer 9

Another example of unbelievers trying to obliterate Christ's name from history. Not all Christians have the time, energy and money to pursue all the slights. We have to pick our battles. If a teacher is dismissed over using the name of Christ to answer a child's questions, that would definitely be something to fight about.

Answer 10

I'm not even a Christian, but this seems like political correctness to me. I could care less if people label the eras based on Jesus or not. It makes no difference to me.

Answer 11

What exactly bugs you about it?

Do you actually demand that people who are not of your faith use terms that denote that faith?

That seems to be all kinds of arrogant and presumptuous of you.

It's not like we're asking to use a different calendar. We just don't want to invoke the name of a deity we don't believe in when discussing what year something happened.

Perhaps it's time that Christians got over this tedious persecution complex and started acting like they're not the only people deserving of consideration.