My 8th grader informed me about a change she learned in referencing time periods. In her Social Studies class the teacher said that the abbreviation BC (Before Christ) has been changed to BCE (Before Common Era) and AD (the Latin abbreviation for the year of our Lord) is now simply CE (Common Era). My reaction was, “Are you serious?” According to her teacher, this change is to include respect for other religions and to not offend those who are non-Christians. My daughter said, “Mom this makes no sense because the Common Era is still based on the life period of Christ, so why take out the name?”
I started to think about my daughter’s response. Our society takes the name of God, Christ and even religious symbols out of many things from our history. We have become an All inclusive society. We don’t want to offend anyone’s belief system. I am sure it will be a matter of time when our dollar bill will take out, “In God we trust” or change it to “In whatever god you choose to trust or not”. This change in time reference is just another example of our political correct, non-offensive society.
I read a blog about this controversy in promoting this change in time reference. The writer wrote in defense of this change and that it was good because we live in a secular society. From the blog:
Because history is not dependent upon the birth and life of Christ, and nor should it be promoted as such. History belongs to everyone, not just the Christians, and our planet’s history is far richer and more interesting than just humanity and its effects on the place.
Wow, this writer is really missing the heart and soul of the life of Jesus Christ. Any true believing Christian will tell you that our history was changed the day God sent His son into the world. God sent Jesus Christ in the form of a baby to live on this earth so that history could belong to everyone. Christians don’t own the historical time period of Christ any more than we own the right to Jesus Christ himself. That pivotal time period was a gift for humanity so that we could own our history and future. It is just unfortunate that the secular society does not recognize that the time of Anno Domini (the years of our Lord) was a gift of salvation to this world.
Taking Christ out of a time reference won’t change the fact that our whole history is still based upon the years, before and after, that Christ lived on this earth. I am sure this is just one of the many changes my daughter will learn about as we become a non-offensive society. The only thing is that my daughter will continue to sit in class and witness these changes while the secular world continues to offend her belief system. I guess history will belong to everyone except the Christians.