The latest ugly manifestation of political correctness is hitting historians big time. Apparently, the use of "B.C." and "A.D." to indicate when something occurred is becoming taboo. Why? "B.C." stands for "before Christ" and "A.D." stands for "Anno Domini" ("in the year of the Lord"). Secularists and non-Christians find this less than polite, apparently. The use of "B.C.E." and "C.E." (for "Before Common Era" and "Common Era" respectively) is increasing in both written and televised parlance about all things historical.
What a load of crap!
Hey, I am all for treating people of different beliefs with as much respect as possible. However, "B.C." and "A.D." comprise a long-standing convention which is no longer of overtly religious significance. If you disagree, consider this: changing what one calls the time periods without changing the dates merely begs the question. What the heck happened that was so momentous that we made it a true dividing line in history in the first place?
Like Jesus or not, believe in Jesus as the Son of God and the only way to Eternal Salvation or not [and anyone who knows me knows I have my doubts.--Ed.], use "B.C." and "A.D." or not, or use "B.C.E." and "C.E." or not, you are still using the conventionally accepted date of Jesus' s birth as your dividing line.
Changing the names without changing the reason for them makes NO sense. Especially when "B.C.E." and "C.E." are more clunky on the tongue than "B.C." and "A.D." The suggestion of some historians, to use "B.C./B.C.E." and "A.D./C.E." is even worse, for obvious reasons.
Furthermore, and most telling for me, is this question: when will it stop? Will we have to recalculate the dates to compensate for the fact that historical evidence now suggests that Jesus was born in either 4 or 7 B.C., depending on whom you believe? How do you decide which of those dates to use as your dividing line to begin with?
And will we have to change the names of the days of the week after that? After all, unless you are a Viking (and I do not mean a Minnesotan or a Minnesota NFL team's player or fan), doesn't honoring gods like Wotan and Thor and Freia distress you?
C'mon already, people! Get your brains in gear, take a deep breath or two, and let it go. The system we have in place now is fine. You can keep your own calendar for your personal use--which I think the Chinese and the Jews already do, do they not? Isn't it presently something like the year 5700+ on either of their calendars?
But we need to have a standard frame of reference when dealing with one another, and "B.C." and "A.D." work well--and are used all over the globe. They are cultural artifacts. They tell us no more than what people in former times took as Truth. Doesn't mean we have to share those beliefs now--but we cannot change the fact that they believed it. The names of the days of the week we use illustrate exactly the same concept.
Remember: if your true concern is not offending someone else's religious sensibilities, you can't just change the names. You have to change the reason(s) behind choosing those names, too. We live quite well with the names of the days of the week as we have them now, and until recently, we have also so lived with "B.C." and "A.D." If it ain't broke, there's no need to fix it.
Besides, it would work a real hardship on Johnny Hart to stop using "B.C." now.
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