From: Ed Trager (ed.trager@gmail.com)
Date: Wed Dec 19 2007 - 20:15:53 CST
Am 19.12.2007 um 19:58 schrieb John Hudson:
> > While I agree that BCE and CE should be *added* to CLDR, I don't agree
> > that BC and AD are best removed, because they are the preferred terms
> > of a very significant user community. CLDR should reflect the usage,
> > and that includes both BC/AD and BCE/CE.
> I join this statement.
> Whatever your beliefs are, one cannot deny the simple fact that the
> Gregorian calender is of christian origin. I am far from being a
> christian propagandist, but I don't see any point in making attempts
> for ideological cleansing of language, as was common practice under the
> communist dictatorship of dubious and questionable memory (M. Everson
> quite reasonably pointed at that).
I don't think anyone has the intention of denying the Christian origin
of the Gregorian calendar. Nor do I believe there is an attempt at
ideological cleansing. The interest in adding CE/BCE as an alternate
pair for era notation is rather based on acknowledgment of a current
socio-linguistic phenomenon: the use of CE/BCE has already gained wide
acceptance in the United States, among scholars world-wide, and
apparently also in English-speaking Canada.
The article from religioustolerance.org mentioned earlier in this
thread (http://www.religioustolerance.org/ceintro.htm) provides fairly
good evidence that certain groups of people who are actually quite
interested in religion and religious tolerance are those who are
promoting this usage the most. I for one find it interesting that it
is --perhaps-- not so much the secular humanists who want to use these
terms as those who believe deeply in religion and see these terms as a
way to better facilitate dialog across differing religious communities
in the inter-connected modern world. As the aforementioned article
points out:
"The world is becoming more integrated financially, politically,
socially and religiously. A universal calendar notation is needed.
Recall that for every Christian there are about two non-Christians
worldwide. References to Christ and to the Judeo-Christian God offend
many of the latter. A universal notation needs to be religiously
neutral in order to be generally accepted. CE and BCE meet these
requirements."
Happy holidays to all -- Ed Trager
> Merry christmas (or should I more correctly say: 'merry x-y-z-mas –? )
> A:S
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