Vatican newspaper criticizes BBC change to 'common era' dating
(Oct. 04, 2011) The Vatican newspaper said it was "historically senseless hypocrisy"
for the BBC to drop the dating abbreviations B.C. and A.D. on the grounds that they
might offend non-Christians. In a front-page commentary on Tuesday, Oct.4, L'Osservatore
Romano said the change reflected a wider effort to "cancel every trace of Christianity
from Western culture." The British media corporation recently announced it would
replace B.C. - Before Christ, and A.D. - Anno Domini, or Year of the Lord, with B.C.E.
- Before Common Era, and C.E. - Common Era. It said the new terms were a "religiously
neutral" alternative. The Vatican newspaper added its voice to a growing number of
critics, who have noted that the new dating abbreviations still use the birth of Christ
as a reference point, but without acknowledging the connection. "To deny the historically
revolutionary importance of the coming of Christ on earth, which is also accepted
by those, who do not recognize him as the son of God, is an act of enormous foolishness,"
the newspaper said. For one thing, it said, the modern concept of human rights,
owes much to the new Christian vision of the equality of human beings as children
of God. The newspaper said it was "anti-historical" to deny the cultural debt owed
by civilization to Christianity.