School Bans Bc And Ad

[cmotherofpirl]

History has to be rewritten as school bans BC and AD

By David Sapsted

(Filed: 13/12/2002)

A secondary school has banned pupils from using the terms BC and AD when writing dates because they are deemed unsuitable in a multi-faith society.

Parents of pupils at the Dorothy Stringer School in Brighton were bewildered when they found their children writing BCE (Before Common Era) about the construction of Stonehenge.

The state school, which has only a few children from ethnic minorities, admitted yesterday that it had replaced Before Christ and Anno Domini, which have been in use since the 16th century, with BCE and Common Era.

Philip and Anne Long, whose 11-year-old son Alex is in his first year at the 1,600-pupil school, said they were "astonished" by the change.

Mr Long said: "Why change a term that is universally used and accepted to describe a particular period? It doesn't seem to make any sense."

Church officials are also upset by the change. David Guest, communications officer for the Diocese of Chichester, said: "BC and AD have been used for centuries and have not upset people. They do have Christian significance but they have historical significance as well. We would be disappointed if these new terms became the norm."

John Thorne, the school's deputy headmaster, defended the new terms. He said they had been around for years.

"They are approved international terms for using dates and they are also in the official GCSE glossary of terms for religious education.

"It is not the job of the school to lead a pupil towards a particular faith: we teach about religion, not just one religion."

Related reports

education.telegraph

External links

Department for Education and Skills

[Kilroy the Ninja]

stop it or I will explode and it's just too lovely a saturday........

[Petrus]

Even if they change the wording, Jesus was still born around 1 CE (really about 5 BCE, but there is no difference). If they really want to get away from religion, the school should use count years after the Big Bang. This year would be about 12500000000 ABB.

[Paladin D]

This is absurd...

BC and AD is used everywhere, I don't get it...

Should we rename all the planets in our solar system, because they are names of mytholagical gods?

[LTNgurl]

:sadder: this is ubsurd

Good point Paladin D ;)

[MC Just]

Typical. Just Typical.

[foundsheep]

This is ridiculous, the world is beginning to deny christ everywhere.

[EcceNovaFacioOmni]

I agree this is rediculous but it doesn't really matter. CE and BCE mean the same thing as AD and BC, it's just a different name. There are worse things to worry about.

BTW: The use of CE still recognizes that our modern calender is based off the year of the birth of Christ and they can never change that.

Edited December 13, 2003 by thedude

[Ash Wednesday]

I've seen the "BCE" done for a while... next thing you know, these jokers are going to want to reset the whole calendar and millennium system that we go by. Whiners.

[Don John of Austria]

I agree this is rediculous but it doesn't really matter. CE and BCE mean the same thing as AD and BC, it's just a different name. There are worse things to worry about

No they are not the same thing, the cover the same period of time, but common Era DOES NOT mean the same thing as In the Year of our Lord. Before the Common era does not mean the same thing as Before (the ) Christ. If I were not a Christian I would be much more offended by CE than AD. AD is overtly religious but CE, say this Calander is common and it is not, If I was a muslim I would say the year was 1381 ( Ithink thats write) if Hindu a differant year,a chinese buddhist still a differant one etc.

THIS IS OFFENSIVE

[Ellenita]

Ah well, you see, we have to teach religion in the UK, it's part of our National Curriculum in state schools, although parents are allowed to request their children do not attend these classes and some do exercise this right (mostly people from very strict protestant denominations in my experience.) As a consequence, facts are taught about all the main religions but the matter of faith is diluted completely since it has to address 'all things for all people'. I could not imagine any child would have anything other than a technical understanding of Christianity through the religion which is taught in state schools.

Of course we also have Catholic schools - unsurprisingly these are incredibly popular with parents (including non catholics!) and always oversubscribed.

And I'm not surprised that the Telegraph (a politically conservative newspaper) has chosen to highlight this about a school under the authority of Brighton council

(a politically left wing, liberal council) as we start the countdown towards elections.

Poor old Brighton council - it's only doing what the DfES says!

[foundsheep]

No they are not the same thing, the cover the same period of time, but  common Era DOES NOT mean the same thing as In the Year of our Lord. Before the Common era does not mean the same thing as Before (the ) Christ.  If I were not a Christian I would be much more offended by CE than AD. AD is overtly religious but CE, say this Calander is common and it is not, If I was a muslim I would say the year was 1381 ( Ithink thats write) if Hindu a differant year,a chinese buddhist still a differant one etc. 

THIS IS OFFENSIVE

Don jon you should end yours with :donjohn:

[Dave]

Ya know, I'm tired of being "sensitive" and being told to be careful not to offend non-Christians! My attitude toward this is, if I make them mad, they'll get over it.

[EcceNovaFacioOmni]

You're right they do not mean the same thing. I was refering to the fact that they both represent the same time period. BCE and CE still refer to Christ and the Christian calender so the renaming is pointless.

[Muschi]

The person who mentioned changing the names of the planets in our solar system since they are all named after pagan gods......whoa!

To the cry-baby atheists, you don't see us Christians trying to lobby for changes in the name of our planets and for that matter...the names of the days of the week which ALSO are named after pagan "gods". No one is having a crying fit over this! So, what gives?

- Muschi :sadder: :cyclops:

[MrsFrozen]

Ya know, I'm tired of being "sensitive" and being told to be careful not to offend non-Christians!  My attitude toward this is, if I make them mad, they'll get over it.

I agree!! Especially since the great majority of the people in this country are Christians. It boggles the mind as to exactly why these non-Christians keep getting their own little way over and over again! They should just quit whining and deal with it! :angry:

[Don John of Austria]

" Especially since the great majority of the people in this country are Christians" Really I hadn't noticed, The 45 million dead Children must have obscured my view.

We cloak ourselves in the Idea that most people are Christians to make us feel better, most people claim to be Christians, Many of those have no faith, and many more are not willing so set aside any of their own wants for CHrist, they are not Christiansin spirit even if in Name.

[the_rev]

Even if they change the wording, Jesus was still born around 1 CE (really about 5 BCE, but there is no difference).  If they really want to get away from religion, the school should use count years after the Big Bang.  This year would be about 12500000000 ABB.

YOU ARE SO FUNNY!!!!!!!

:lol: :lol:

[nikkan_hanil]

God, they're just gonna change everything "religious" aren't they? Next thing you know they're gonna remove the lower-case T from the K-Mart logo because it looks like a cross. <_<

[geetarplayer]

:rolleyes: This is going to confuse so many students.

"Today is December 15, 2003 A.D.E."

-Mark