A.D. versus C.E.

Posted by Gamer3D on May 10, 2007, 6:40 p.m.

I heard a while back that some people are attempting to replace "A.D." with "C.E." and "B.C." with "B.C.E.". My question: Why?

To answer that question, I found the following information: meanings of the acronyms, the meanings of the terms

Meanings of the acronyms:

  • A.D.: Anno Domini Translation: In the year of our Lord.

  • B.C.: Before Christ

  • C.E.: Common Era

  • B.C.E: Before Common Era

    Meanings of the terms:

  • A.D.: Years after Christ's birth. (though some scholars place his birth at 4 B.C.)

  • B.C.: Years before Christ's birth. (see note on A.D.)

  • C.E.: Same as A.D.

  • B.C.E.: Same as B.C.

    Now the question: Why change the term from a familiar one to an unfamiliar one?

    My reasons for it:

  • The people who use C.E. and B.C.E. want to eliminate all mention of Christ and His name.

  • They cannot remember that A.D. means Anno Domini.

  • They didn't like the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B.C._%28comic_strip%29">comic strip</a>.
  • Comments

    Polystyrene Man 17 years, 6 months ago

    I will always use AD.

    You cannot change the fact that the Gregorian calendar revolves around Christ's birth. Whether or not you believe that Jesus was the Son of God does not matter.

    Gamer3D 17 years, 6 months ago

    Same here.

    Mush 17 years, 6 months ago

    @PM: I agree

    Why change it? Think about all the confusion it will make. Look at what happened when the U.S. tried to use the metric system.. complete failure.

    Mynameisonic 17 years, 6 months ago

    I agree with Polystyrene Man.

    I happen to believe that Jesus was the son of God, but I think that any person who is offended by the term "B.C." needs to calm down. Even if you don't believe that Jesus was anything special, the fact remains that he was a real historical figure, and that our calendar system has been based on his birth for hundreds of years, and it's too late to change that now.

    Oh, and the B.C. comic strip is L33T.

    IdiotProof 17 years, 6 months ago

    I couldn't care less which one people use.

    melee-master 17 years, 6 months ago

    I'll always use it too. Jesus was a real person, and that's all that matters (because I dislike religion).

    ludamad 17 years, 6 months ago

    I strongly dislike religion, but really an acronym is not a big deal. It'd be like me not saying 'omg' because it stands for something remotely religious. And I disagree that Jesus was a real person.

    Amarin 17 years, 6 months ago

    I've always used BC and AD, why stop now? -_-

    I don't consider myself part of any religion (I'm more agnostic than anything). But as Melee said - Jesus was a real person. Those closed-minded atheists (not to be confused with open-minded ones like MahFreenAmeh) seriously need to chill out.

    Not to get off topic, but the same goes for the Pledge of Allegiance. "One nation under God." I seriously don't give a fuck if they keep it or get rid of it. In my opinion, they should just drop the whole pledge, instead of just two words. Nobody should have to pledge allegiance to the suckiest country in the world:

    1. You're pledging allegiance to an elaborate piece of cloth (making you psychotic). It doesn't even have any vertical or horizontal symmetry.

    2. You're pledging allegiance to anarchists (the Republic, as well as democrats, that's why I take no political stand.

    3. Let's put it in Zero Wing terms:

    By saying it, you mean this: All my base are belong to a piece of cloth and anarchists.

    4. http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=tictacs

    Jesus was a real human, Ludamad.

    chiggerfruit 17 years, 6 months ago

    Keep the intials, burn the comic. Changing it would be like changing Christmas to the spring because it would be considered correct. Nobody wants to do that after all these years.

    Scott_AW 17 years, 6 months ago

    I guess they ran out of important things to improve society's lives.