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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
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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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