So, I was watching the History Channel while taking a little break from work. I work from home, and therefore I have the freedom to watch the stupid tube when I’m not working. The show was about the history of Jerusalem. Something began to nag at me, which has nagged at me in the past, but now that I have a blog, I can spout off about these things.
I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a Christian. I was raised a Catholic and I’m now in recovery from that experience. My spiritual/religious beliefs aren’t really important here; it’s enough to say that I’m not a Christian. So, could someone please tell me, what the hell is this “Before the Common Era” crap that I keep on hearing?
I understand the necessity of the separation of church and state. I even understand the concept of atheism, though I don’t buy into it. But, this has gone too far. I mean, the man did exist, whether you believe he was God, a prophet, or just some over-publicized carpenter from Bethlehem. But, now we can’t even say his name, without the risk of being politically incorrect? What the hell is up with that?
We can talk about Osama Bin Laden. We can talk about Saddam Hussein. We can talk about Adolph Hitler. But we can’t even mention the name of Jesus Christ? Could someone please tell me WTF is going on in this world?
We are a culture that has become obsessed with the things that we say, the labels that we apply, and the names that we mention. When I was a kid, there was a planet in our solar system called Uranus. That’s “U-ray-nis,” for those who can’t remember what we all called it at one time. Then, some nut job took offense that the fact that the name of that planet rhymed with anus, a part of the body that apparently, we aren’t allowed to mention. So, we changed the name of that planet to “Ur-uh-nus.” Say what??
Now, we have told historians that they must no longer acknowledge the existence of Jesus Christ. Was he God? The son of God? Hell, I don’t know. But, I think it’s safe for me to say that he did have a more profound impact on the people of this planet than any other human being in history. But, God forbid we should mention his name, because we might piss off some whack-job atheist who can’t stand to hear his name. “Before the Common Era,” my skinny little ass. What a load of crap this is.
We all have our own religious beliefs. Even the avowed lack of religious belief is a religious belief. The sooner we learn to live and let live, the sooner we learn to get over the fact that not everyone agrees with our point of view about religion, the better off we’re all going to be.
God, I can’t believe that I’ve been pushed into the place of defending something that would be better defended by a fundamental Christian…
The terms Common Era (CE), and Before the Common Era (BCE) started with Israeli archaeologists who wanted to use the same dates as everyone else, but not to claim Jesus as their Lord. Since then, other non Christians have taken it up. So, the problem, for which CE was the solution, wasn’t so much BC (Before Christ), but AD (Ano Domini (The year of Our Lord)). I use CE and BCE because he ain’t MY f’in Lord, and I suspect that was the attitude of the Israeli archaeologists who started it, too.
As the commentator above rightly points out, “AD” is a Christian-centric term, and its use could be interpreted as an expression of faith. It is not, as you assert, merely an invocation of JC’s name. You yourself make the absolutely valid point that not everyone agrees with our religious point of view. The BCE/CE nomenclature is therefore culturally appropriate for everyone, including the 2/3 of the world who are not Christians.
Secondly, this Uranus business. I hate to break it to you, but the U-ren-us pronunciation has always been the preferred one. There was no “whack-job” who mandated that it be changed. You were just saying it wrong, that’s all.
Sorry to pontificate, but in my experience, supposed examples of “political correctness gone mad” are very often blown out of all proportion, and are in fact usually backed by a sound rationale.