ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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I wouldn't expect a Christian to necessarily understand what it feels like
to non-Christians. I do expect you to take what I say seriously and not
dismiss it as invalid based on your own beliefs. You had one data point
from a Jew who didn't care, now you have another data point from one who
does. What you choose to do with that is your business, but don't tell me
or anyone else that it doesn't really bother Jews, because it does bother
some of us. As far as Christians go, you should also stick to speaking for
yourself. Many of the Christians I know fully support the use of CE in
secular contexts and do not find it offensive at all.
I'm a Jew by choice and when I was a Christian, I also thought people in
minority religions were sometimes oversensitive. I now know differently.
AD is literally "year of our lord" and Jesus is not my lord. I don't have
any objection to your use of AD in Christian contexts or personal
communications (Ian's use of AD in his post, for example, did not make me
feel uncomfortable or unwelcome at all - he is speaking for himself) but I
don't think that SMM really wants to represent itself as a Christian
institution. If I'm wrong about that, I'd be happy for you to set the
record straight.
As for the need to educate people as to what CE means, education is what we
are about, isn't it?
David L Smith
Director of Professional Development
Da Vinci DiscoveryCenter of Science and Technology
http://www.discovery-center.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Eugene Dillenburg
Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2005 9:28 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Science, religion, BC, and AD
ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
****************************************************************************
*
What a bad idea! It not only doesn't change anything, it actually makes
maters worse for all concerned.
1) The objection to BC / AD is that it makes the birth of Jesus the focal
point of history. (One could make a compelling argument that, at least in
the case of our Western civilization, that is indeed the case.) The new
dating system does not change this -- Jesus' birth is still the zero point.
2) By changing to an unusual, unfamiliar dating system, you are in fact
drawing attention to the very thing you are trying to downplay.
3) The change is offensive to Christians -- who are still the majority of
visitors in almost all of our institutions -- by "demoting" Jesus and
replacing Him with a human creation.
4) The change is offensive to non-Christians: calling a Christ-centered
dating system "common" implies that all other belief systems are "uncommon"
-- unusual, out of the ordinary, minor.
5) BC / AD is pretty much a non-issue to begin with. It came up years ago
at a museum I worked for, and I asked a co-worker (Orthodox Jewish) for his
opinion. He thought I was patronizing him. Look, he explained, every month
when I write my mortgage check, I use a year based on Christianity, a month
based on Roman mythology, a day based on Nordic mythology, and a number that
probably had some mystical significance to the Babylonians. Etymology is
not evangelism; my faith is strong enough to withstand other people having
their own.
Eugene Dillenburg
Exhibit Developer
Science Museum of Minnesota
[log in to unmask]
On Mon, 18 Apr 2005 19:14:38 -0400, David Smith
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology
>Centers Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and
>related institutions.
>***************************************************************************
**
>
>While we are all busy discussing science and religion, may I offer a
>request for all those of you who use dates in the historical era on
>your center signage to use the CE, BCE (Common Era, Before the Common
>Era) nomenclature instead of AD and BC. Both of the latter refer
>explicity to Christ, and AD refers explicitly to Christ's divinity,
>making CE/BCE a more inclusive usage. The years are counted
>identically, this is 2005 CE, so there's no issue of conversion, just a
>change in initials. For more see the wikipedia entry:
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Era.
>
>
>David L Smith
>Director of Professional Development
>Da Vinci DiscoveryCenter of Science and Technology
>http://www.discovery-center.org
>
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>More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
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>list, send the message SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
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