Controversy!
Now I know last blog scared you a bit, but I’m here to scare you more, and ask you to think with me for a bit.
If any of you checked the last link I posted, I’m sure you had a good laugh and also a good cry. You feel so sorry for all of those people who worked so hard predicting the end of the world, some devoting their entire lives to surmising how their lives and the lives of everyone else would end.
It makes you laugh, but it also makes you cry. Imagine devoting your entire life to something that fails…but at least their pain was eased by the fact that they were still alive and could be good Christians-hopefully.
Well, forgive me that was a tangent. Funnily, the topic I have for you is based on something you might not have noticed in that link. This is concerning a particular abbreviation that I find a bit peculiar-C.E
Now, my friends, C.E. is in any book today that tackles history. Common Era is its full title.
Complete embarrassment for me.
And why?
It may seem odd, but I find this abbreviation odd on many counts. The first is this.
What do we really all have in common with each other?
We’re people.
Good and dandy. But what about this diversity concept that is so popular today?
We have this era in common?
I won’t comment on this argument
Or maybe this argument-we weren’t all Christians, so B.C and A.D. aren’t all inclusive.
Now we have an interesting conundrum.
Aha, we were not all Christians, and we mustn’t offend anyone.
Dear hearts, this is important, yes? I’d like to hear some comments on this blog because I think it’s not just an abbreviation for a period, but instead an abbreviation and erasing of our culture, even our world culture!
The idea that we can consolidate our differences and erase them with this term is to me an outrage. While many will say it is foolish of me to argue when I am a Christian is to me absurd. Take, for example, the fact, that many who argued to change C.E were themselves not Christian. I am indeed biased, but were those who changed B.C to C.E not biased themselves?
Originally the term C.E was first used by those of the Jewish community, understandably as they did not hold the same faith in Christ as Christians do. Many sects do not believe this concept. And yet, I do not see the issue as one strictly religious, but as one of history.
Yes, C.E. is perhaps all inclusive of cultures. It’s not specific, and this lack of spasticity is arguably to represent not only it universality, but society’s embracing of a new progressivism, thoughtful to all races, sects, and creeds.
BUT
I would like to argue that this spirit of progressivism, we are progressing toward a modern disaster by erasing history itself.
Now allow me to give the opposition a chance and to illustrate some other uses of Common Era in our society.
Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan argued, “[T]he Christian calendar no longer belongs exclusively to Christians. People of all faiths have taken to using it simply as a matter of convenience. There is so much interaction between people of different faiths and cultures – different civilizations, if you like – that some shared way of reckoning time is a necessity. And so the Christian Era has become the Common Era.”[74]
And
“In the United States, the usage of the BCE/CE notation in textbooks is growing.[59] Some publications have moved over to using it exclusively. For example, the 2007 World Almanac was the first edition to switch over to the BCE/CE usage, ending a 138-year usage of the traditional BC/AD dating notation. It is used by the College Board in its history tests,[68] and by the Norton Anthology of English Literature. Others have taken a different approach. The US-based History Channel uses BCE/CE notation in articles on non-Christian religious topics such as Jerusalem and Judaism.[69]” (wikipedia.org for both quotes, under article called, “common Era,”)
For United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, I would like to respectfully disagree. I can agree that our calendar is now used by millions in the world. Yet I can also say that another thing all cultures share is a world history. We cannot acknowledge our roots, our mistakes, our very cultural designs if we cannot first address an event that changed the lives of billions, trillions, around the world. Christianity is the most populous and popular faith in the world. It seems odd to me that, in an effort to keep everyone from squirming in their history books, we change a date so crucial to the course of human history. Even Allah was influenced by Christian teachings.
Take, for example, a funny passage form an article arguing AGAINST Judeo Christian influence of Allah.
The Quran does not maintain that it is teaching a new religion. Instead it upholds and revives the original teachings God has given through all Prophets of all nations. It claims that its teachings are the same as that of Ibraaheem (Abraham), Moosaa (Moses) and ‘Eesaa (Jesus), May Allaah exalt their mention, and speaks about all of them in glowing terms.
This is not to say that I believe Islamists should conform to Christianity nor should it imply any fierce opposition to the Muslim population.
THis does serve, however, to make us realize that Judeo-Christian influence did play a part in other cultures, other religious beliefs, and, most importantly, world history.
C.E. is not then an effect that can please everyone. Rather, it is an effort to erase a crucial event in world history. It is not to advocate anyone’s worship of Christianity. It is not to place Christ on a pedestal of nomenclature. No, it is a reference to an event and a man who changed the course of human history.
It is indeed something we have in common with one another. It is a reference point, a beginning, and it is not to be changed for the sake of people’s feelings. History, dear hearts, cannot and should not operate this way. And, for this, I hope to see many of you view abbreviations with a new eye and to look to the history that changed each and everyone one of us, no matter what uncommon religious creed or no creed at all.
http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/index.php?page=articles&id=134204
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_most_popular_faith_in_the_world
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Era