Taking Christ out of "B.C."

Ramblings' Journal blogged There is a movement afoot, primarily among academics and historians, to remove the term "Before Christ" or "B.C." from years predating the birth of Jesus Christ. Likewise, that same movement wants to change "Anno Domini," or A.D. -- literally translated from Latin as "In the year of our Lord" -- to "C.E." or "Common Era." "B.C." would become "B.C.E." or "Before Common Era."

The terms "B.C." and "A.D." increasingly are shunned by certain scholars.

Educators and historians say schools from North America to Australia have been changing the terms "Before Christ," or B.C., to "Before Common Era," or B.C.E., and "anno Domini" (Latin for "in the year of the Lord") to "Common Era." In short, they're referred to as B.C.E. and C.E.

The terms B.C. and A.D. have clear Catholic roots. Dionysius Exiguus, an abbot in Rome, devised them as a way to determine the date for Easter for Pope St. John I. The terms were continued under the Gregorian Calendar, created in 1582 under Pope Gregory XIII.

Although most calendars are based on an epoch or person, B.C. and A.D. have always presented a particular problem for historians: There is no year zero; there's a 33-year gap, reflecting the life of Christ, dividing the epochs. Critics say that's additional reason to replace the Christian-based terms.

A number of Jewish and Muslim scholars have a problem with associating the calendar with Jesus Christ -- though many seem to forget that there is a separate Hebrew calendar; under that calendar, this is the year 5765. On the Islamic calendar, it is the year A.H. 1426. Heck, everyone knows there is a separate Chinese calendar, where this is the year 4703. So what makes the BC/AD divide so contentious?

Political correctness. Of course. Would you expect anything different?

I would have no problem with a Jewish scholar using the Hebrew calendar, or an Islamic scholar using the Islamic calendar, etc. In fact I wonder what would happen to an Islamic scholar who refused to use the Islamic calendar. But it is outrageous that Christian scholars refuse to use BC/AD.