I recently got into a discussion with a friend about the popular use of the term CE (common era) vice the traditional AD (Anno Domini) and conversely BCE vice BC. We were at a museum and noticed a lot of the dates were written out as "BCE (formerly BC)" on various exhibits. My friend asked about it and I made a typical Bill comment about the world being politically correct and distancing itself from religion. This of course sparked a debate.
My friend is not Catholic and I have to be careful to say, is not amiable to The Church and its matters / history. I on the other hand, am not a die hard religious person, but I am very attached to my Church and its history.
I asked my friend about what was taught in school when we were growing up and the general consensus was AD/BC. My friend was also quite unaware of the AD/CE change that was taking place, so that tells me that this is a recent (within the last 5 or 10 years) change which as been gaining popularity in the US.
Now I am perfectly aware of the fact that AD/BC is a Roman Catholic/Christian term and that there are many non-christian establishments which do not or have never used the terms to designate time. In general (but not always) some of these establishments use lunar (like the Chinese) calendars or designate annual time in terms or monarchical reigns (such as in the Japanese culture). The Jewish calendar is also different from the Gregorian calendar which is the general standard in Western Christian cultures.
The Gregorian Calendar was established by Pope Gregory XIII (a Roman Catholic Pontiff) in the year 1582 and has been the standard ever since. Now my personal opinion is that since this calendar was established by The Church and the established terminology was Anno Domini and Before Christ, so, in my opinion, that is what should be used.
It is understood that the use of CE dates back to 1615 where is is seen in Latin texts, however, the popular use, by the culture which established the calendar was still AD. It is believed that groups wishing to be sensitive to Non-Christians began the push to establish the use of CE. It eliminated any reference to Christ, which may offend any non-Christians.
It is also understood that academics and Christian Organizations wishing to distance themselves from the Roman Catholic Church or religious organizations in general have been using the term CE for quite some time. It is also known that the push to use CE is growing in the USA, for example, in 2007 the World Almanac made the switch to the CE/BCE references. This is in addition to numerous Academic and media institutions which soon followed suit in recent years. "Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan argued, "The Christian calendar no longer belongs exclusively to Christians. People of all faiths have taken to using it simply as a matter of convenience. There is so much interaction between people of different faiths and cultures - different civilizations, if you like - that some shared way of reckoning time is a necessity. And so the Christian Era has become the Common Era."" (Wikipedia 2010)
In our past we look at cornerstones of many great buildings and read classic texts which all use the references of AD/BC. This for years in our western, christian influenced culture was used as the norm. Now the secularization of our society is slowly removing any reference to religion from the culture which made this nation great. They stated off by taking out "One Nation under God" from our pledge and keep pushing forward with their anti-religious agenda. In God we trust is next? Where does it stop? Personally I find it offensive, but is guess, the majority no longer matters. It is not politically correct.
