Why are dates BC and AD the same as BCE and CE, just the terms switched?
It’s political correctness, something I don’t care for myself. I’m a historian and have noticed that while both BC/AD and BCE/CE are still in common use there seems to be an increase in the use of BCE/CE in recent years, at least in the historical books/journal articles that I read. Well I focus on the American Civil War so it’s all AD/CE dates so there isn’t a whole lot of that in the notation, but anyway. But calendars in general have changed quite a bit throughout history. Jews use a different dating system for religious purposes. They start from the calculated date of the Creation of Adam which makes 2008 AD 5768. The Romans calculated their calendar from the founding of Rome which was about 753 BC. Earlier in the Roman republic, the year was simply noted by who was the consul (head of the government) at the time. We do a similar thing sometimes here in America. How often have you heard someone say, “Gas prices haven’t been this bad since the Carter administration.” or something al
While they are used interchangeably, the terms CE and BCE are technically more correct. The terms AD and BC are based upon the year 1 being the year of the birth of Christ. But we now know that the current calendar is off by 3-4 years so to express the birth of Christ using those terms, you would have to say he was born 3-4 BC, meaning he was born 3-4 years before he was born. Really circular and illogical to say the least. However, if you say the year 1 is an arbitrary year set to start our current calendar, saying he was born 3-4 BCE is correct, he was born 3-4 years before the 1 year point of the Common Era, or 3-4 Before the Common Era. Not circular and it is logical. Using CE and BCE is an admission the calendar is not accurate and therefore more correct.
It is, at best, distasteful for non-Christians to have to refer to the Christian god when they do not what to. CE and AD may refer to the same time frame, however, they do NOT refer to the same thing. As you noted yourself, AD is anno Domini, ‘the year of our Lord’ which it may be for Christians, it is most definitely not for non-Christians. Christians, because of their overwhelming numbers and power, assume that whatever they want should be OK for everybody else. That is not true. In fact, based on Christian interaction with most non-Christian religions and cultures throughout history, having to refer to the Christian god is much more than just distasteful, it is one more reminder of the incredible arrogance that Christianity lives out of.
