I'm looking for opinions on the change in usage from A.D. Anno Domini to C.E. Common Era.

Both are titles for the same calendar system. Does it make a difference to use one or the other?
When I was still in collegium some instructors demanded the use of C.E. Is that common? Should authorities insist on the change?

I went through high school with the old system. Does the usage depend on where you were schooled? I'm Gen X or so that might make a difference.

I think that since the West forced A.D. on the world that C.E. is just a whitewash to hide centuries of colonialism. Since A.D. has origins in the Catholic church as based on the supposed birth of Christ the continued use of the system is insulting to peoples in countries that are not predominantly Christian. If anything there should be new calendar based on something more international and secular, say the founding of the UN.

Your thoughts?

I agree that counting years from the supposed birth of Christ is uncomfortably Christian-centric in this day an age. However, I think we're pretty much saddled with it. Changing it would just lead to ridiculous amounts of confusion and difficulties, and really isn't practically possible at all.

With regards to B.C./C.E., I've never been told "this is the way you MUST do it", but all of my college history professors use C.E.. in their lectures, and I follow their example in papers and so on. Much as some of my fellow students seem to fail to get it (I once heard a student in a basic level anthropology class basically independently invent Social Darwinism in a classroom discussion), I see part of learning a human-based subject like history or sociology as being introduced to correct/respectful terminology, and learning to be more-than-the-average-person respectful about cultural differences. Being taught "We prefer to use THIS word nowadays, because the word you used has Unfortunate Implications without any accusation or judgment attached to the correction was very useful to me.

So rambling long story short, Christian-centrism and colonial holdovers = bad. I don't think there's anything that can be done about the calendar, but using C.E. is perhaps a respectful compromise.

I'll start a new calendar upon foundation of my empire.

How about it's always Year 0. The past is 0- however many years to whatever event wants dating, and the future is always 0+ however many years away we think it is. Think of all the income for sign painters, changing all those 'Est. DATE' signs every year...

Except... you discover a document dated "Year 0". How do you know how old it is?

Except... you discover a document dated "Year 0". How do you know how old it is?

Carbon dating!

We'll just need to develop an ink that changes color over time at a specified rate.

I've always thought of the term "Common Era" as the pinnacle of political correctness, and not in a good way. Yes, I know that "A.D." is an acronym that is derived from a Latin phrase that translates to "in the year of our Lord." I also know that not everyone recognizes Jesus Christ as their own personal Lord. I'm included in that group myself.

However, with "A.D." you already have to expand an acronym and translate from a dead language before you realize you're saying anything related to Christianity. One could argue that "Common Era" is just as sinister because it presumes the birth of Christ is something that everyone agrees is important enough to be worthy of basing the calendar around.

I wouldn't have chosen a calendar system based on a deity, but it's what we have. Changing systems entirely after all this time would be too much hassle for too little benefit, so I don't recommend renumbering all the years. I still think the effort to rename the years is silly. It's just putting proverbial lipstick on a proverbial pig. It doesn't change the reason for selecting the zero point, it just adds an additional layer of indirection that you have to jump through before you get to Jesus.

Nope, I hadn't either.

I don't think it really matters what the calendar is called, or even what calendar you use.  People can choose any calendar - lunar, Muslim, African, or other.  Just as long as your week has 7 days, you're fine regardless of what year you consider it to be.