Thursday, March 03, 2005
B.C. versus C.E.
What a complex piece of work is a man: on this issue, unlike many, my heart falls to the left (or to the right as you view the page).
Upbringing and personal circumstances play a role here. As a product of the NSW schools' system, I grew accustomed to the "C.E." denotation at an early age - the term was bandied about by (the (too) many) left wing NSW educators long before making yesterday's headlines. So it doesn't appear to be strange or radical to me.
Moreover, it makes a lot of sense. Non-Christians - and there are many throughout the world - generally use the same calendar used in Christendom, and might feel more comfortable with the removal of religious connotations from a commonly used descriptive.
Not that there's anything wrong with using "B.C." or "A.D.", of course. Both secular and Christianity-based forms of date decription might, in my mind, be commonly recognised and accepted.
