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Author Topic:   The moons, eclipses, and timing
dwise1
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Message 74 of 112 (530947)
10-15-2009 3:28 PM
Reply to: Message 69 by ICANT
10-15-2009 1:45 PM


Re: Serious subjects
Modern man who does not want to retain God in their knowledge has decided Christ did not die, so AD means nothing.
Since AD is offensive to them they have come up with CE meaning Common Era. The religious people who don't want to retain God in their mind can use this to mean Christian Era.
No, CE is used because the Gregorian calendar is in common use by most of the world, most of which is not Christian. Christians only comprise 24.54% - 28.82% of the world's population (List of religious population - Wikipedia). Very close to the same percentage of the world population that's Muslim (22.752% - 23.312%), so there's as strong an argument to be made for imposing Islamic conventions on the vast majority who do not follow that religion -- which is to say that the argument for imposing exclusively Christian conventions on the rest of the world has no merit.
To dispell some of the ignorance here (from Common Era - Wikipedia -- my emphasis added):
quote:
Common Era, abbreviated as CE, is a designation for the calendar system most commonly used world-wide for numbering the year part of the date. The numbering of years using Common Era notation is identical to the numbering used with Anno Domini (BC/AD) notation, 2009 being the current year in both notations and neither using a year zero. Common Era is also known as Christian Era and Current Era, with all three expressions abbreviated as CE. (Christian Era is, however, also abbreviated AD, for Anno Domini.) Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for "Before the Common Era", "Before the Christian Era", or "Before the Current Era". Both the BCE/CE and BC/AD notations are based on a sixth-century estimate for the year in which Jesus was conceived or born, with the common era designation originating among Christians in Europe at least as early as 1615 (at first in Latin).
The Gregorian calendar, and the year-numbering system associated with it, is the calendar system with most widespread usage in the world today. For decades, it has been the de facto global standard, recognized by international institutions such as the United Nations and the Universal Postal Union. Common Era notation has been adopted in several non-Christian cultures, by many scholars in religious studies and other academic fields, and by others wishing to be sensitive to non-Christians, because Common Era does not explicitly make use of religious titles for Jesus, such as Christ and Lord, which are used in the BC/AD notation.
So Common Era was invented centuries ago by Christians and is used both by non-Christians and also by Christians who recognize that there are entire cultures that are not Christian.
Examination of the origin of the terms demonstrates that they did not originate from modern times (ie, 20th century), but rather centuries before then; quoting from that same "Common Era" article:
quote:
The year numbering system used with Common Era notation was devised by the monk Dionysius Exiguus in the year 525 to replace the Diocletian years, because he did not wish to continue the memory of a tyrant who persecuted Christians. He attempted to number years from an event he referred to as the Incarnation of Jesus, although scholars today generally agree that he miscalculated by a small number of years. ...
The term "Common Era" is traced back in English to its appearance as "Vulgar Era" (from the Latin word vulgus, the common people, i.e. those who are not royalty), to distinguish it from the regnal dating systems typically used in national law. The first use of the Latin equivalent (vulgaris aerae) discovered so far was in a 1615 book by Johannes Kepler. Kepler uses it again in a 1617 table of ephemerides. A 1635 English edition of that book has the title page in English - so far, the earliest-found usage of Vulgar Era in English. ...
The first so-far-discovered usage of "Christian Era" is as the Latin phrase aerae christianae on the title page of a 1584 theology book. ... A 1652 ephemeris is the first instance so-far-found for English usage of "Christian Era".
The English phrase "common Era" appears at least as early as 1715 in a book on astronomy, used synonymously with "Christian Era" and "Vulgar Era". A 1759 history book uses common ra in a generic sense, to refer to the common era of the Jews. Common era and vulgar era are used as synonyms in 1770, in a translation of a book originally written in German. The 1797 edition of the Encyclopdia Britannica uses the terms vulgar era and common era synonymously. ... The Catholic Encyclopedia uses the sentence: "Foremost among these [various eras] is that which is now adopted by all civilized peoples and known as the Christian, Vulgar or Common Era, in the twentieth century of which we are now living." During the 19th century, "Vulgar Era" came to be contrasted with "Christian Era", and "vulgar" came to mean "crudely indecent", thus no longer a synonym for "common".
The phrase "common era", in lower case, also appeared in the 19th century in a generic sense, not necessarily to refer to the Christian Era, but to any system of dates in common use throughout a civilization. ... When it did refer to the Christian Era, it was sometimes qualified, e.g., "common era of the Incarnation", "common era of the Nativity",[47] or "common era of the birth of Christ".
Some Jewish academics were already using the CE and BCE abbreviations by the mid-19th century, such as in 1856, when Rabbi and historian, Morris Jacob Raphall used the abbreviation in his book, Post-Biblical History of The Jews.
...
Although Jews have their own Hebrew calendar, they often find it necessary to use the Gregorian Calendar as well. The reasons for some using Common Era notation are described below:
quote:
Jews do not generally use the words "A.D." and "B.C." to refer to the years on the Gregorian calendar. "A.D." means "the year of our L-rd [sic]," and we do not believe Jesus is the L-rd [sic]. Instead, we use the abbreviations C.E. (Common or Christian Era) and B.C.E. (Before the Common Era).
{"Jewish Calendar: Numbering of Jewish Years". Jewish Virtual Library. The Jewish Calendar. Retrieved 2 September 2007.}
Indeed, Common Era notation has also been in use for Hebrew lessons for "more than a century".
Some American academics in the fields of education and history have adopted CE and BCE notation, although there is some disagreement. The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, which is the leading publishing body of the Jehovah's Witnesses, uses CE and BCE exclusively in its publications. More visible uses of Common Era notation have recently surfaced at major museums in the English-speaking world: The Smithsonian Institution prefers Common Era usage, though individual museums are not required to use it. Furthermore, several style guides now prefer or mandate its usage. Even some style guides for Christian churches prefer its use: for example, the Episcopal Diocese Maryland Church News.
In the United States, the usage of the BCE/CE notation in textbooks is growing. Some publications have moved over to using it exclusively. For example, the 2007 World Almanac was the first edition to switch over to the BCE/CE usage, ending a 138-year usage of the traditional BC/AD dating notation. It is used by the College Board in its history tests, by the Norton Anthology of English Literature, and by the United States Naval Observatory. Others have taken a different approach. The US-based History Channel uses BCE/CE notation in articles on non-Christian religious topics such as Jerusalem and Judaism. In June 2006, the Kentucky State School Board reversed its decision that would have included the designations BCE and CE as part of state law, leaving education of students about these concepts a matter of discretion at the local level.
...
It is argued that the use of BCE/CE shows sensitivity to those who use the same year numbering system as the one that originated with and is currently used by Christians, but who are not themselves Christian. Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan argued, "[T]he 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."
...
Christian opposition
Because the BC/AD notation is based on the supposed year of the conception or birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the removal of reference to him in era notation is perceived by some Christians as offensive. Some groups oppose the Common Era notation for explicitly religious reasons; for example, the Southern Baptist Convention supports retaining the BC/AD abbreviations as "a reminder of the preeminence of Christ and His gospel in world history". The Southern Baptist Convention has criticized the use of BCE and CE as being the result of "secularization, anti-supernaturalism, religious pluralism, and political correctness" and encourages its members to "retain the traditional method of dating and avoid this revisionism".
Why should it surprise you that non-Christians wouldn't want to use an exclusively Christian evocation? Why do you have the chutzpah to take offense at not being praised for wanting to impose your sectarian beliefs on the vast majority of the world?

This message is a reply to:
 Message 69 by ICANT, posted 10-15-2009 1:45 PM ICANT has not replied

  
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