Using AD vs CE & BC vs BCE – Is It Better to Use CE & BCE or AD & BC?
There is a trend among scholars towards using “BCE” and “CE” as year markers rather than BC and AD. As abbreviations for Before the Common Era and Common Era, they do not specifically privilege Christianity; instead, they simply make reference to the fact that we are living in an era shared in common between Christians and other religions — though Christianity and Judaism are the two religions usually in mind. Some regard this as anti-Christian or an atheist conspiracy against Christianity. BC and AD as Christian Dating Conventions The tradition in the West is to base the count of our years around the alleged time when Jesus would have been born. Every year since his birth is “A.D.” which stands for the Latin phrase “anno Domini” (“in the year of the Lord”), first used by the monk Dionysisu Exiguus. Every year before his birth, counting back words, is “B.C,” or “Before Christ.” In defining dates on no
