Common Era
[a] The term "Common Era" can be found in English as early as 1708,[5] and became more widely used in the mid-19th century by Jewish religious scholars.
[6][b] They have been promoted as more sensitive to non-Christians by not referring to Jesus, the central figure of Christianity, especially via the religious terms "Christ" and Dominus ("Lord") used by the other abbreviations.
He did this to replace the then dominant Era of Martyrs system, because he did not wish to continue the memory of a tyrant who persecuted Christians.
[10][11][12] Dionysius labeled the column of the table in which he introduced the new era as "Anni Domini Nostri Jesu Christi" (Of the year of our Lord Jesus Christ].
[20][g] A 1701 book edited by John Le Clerc includes the phrase "Before Christ according to the Vulgar Æra, 6".
[22][h] The first published use of "Christian Era" may be the Latin phrase annus aerae christianae on the title page of a 1584 theology book, De Eucharistica controuersia.
[48] Some academics in the fields of theology, education, archaeology and history have adopted CE and BCE notation despite some disagreement.
Weeks after the story broke, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority denied the rumours and stated that the BC/AD notation would remain, with CE and BCE as an optional suggested learning activity.
[53] The notation is in particularly common use in Nepal in order to disambiguate dates from the local calendar, Bikram or Vikram Sambat.
[55] English Heritage explains its era policy thus: "It might seem strange to use a Christian calendar system when referring to British prehistory, but the BC/AD labels are widely used and understood.
[55] As of October 2019, the BBC News style guide has entries for AD and BC, but not for CE or BCE.
For example, the 2007 World Almanac was the first edition to switch to BCE/CE, ending a period of 138 years in which the traditional BC/AD dating notation was used.
[62][63][64] The use of CE in Jewish scholarship was historically motivated by the desire to avoid the implicit "Our Lord" in the abbreviation AD.
[c] Although other aspects of dating systems are based in Christian origins, AD is a direct reference to Jesus as Lord.
[70]Adena K. Berkowitz, in her application to argue before the United States Supreme Court, opted to use BCE and CE because, "Given the multicultural society that we live in, the traditional Jewish designations – B.C.E.
Mark wrote "Non-Christian scholars, especially, embraced [CE and BCE] because they could now communicate more easily with the Christian community.
Since the year numbers are the same, BCE and CE dates should be equally offensive to other religions as BC and AD.
[73] Roman Catholic priest and writer on interfaith issues Raimon Panikkar argued that the BCE/CE usage is the less inclusive option since they are still using the Christian calendar numbers and forcing it on other nations.
