Talk:Common Era

Culturally neutral and Christian Era
I keep removing the reference to the term "Common Era" being culturally-neutral, but people keep restoring it. The reason I replace it is because it is factually incorrect. No doubt some people who use the term perceive it as being culturally-neutral, but that is a far cry from making a definitive statement that it is. The evidence (disputes in Canada, USA, the UK and Australia about the terminology can easily be found by searching on google) suggests that far from being culturally neutral, it is often culturally divisive. We probably don't need to go so far as to say that either - but surely the incorrect statement that it is culturally neutral should be expunged. SCCC 18:54, 20 June 2006 (UTC)


 * You keep changing the entry to say that "Common Era" means "Christian Era" and that the phrase is used "primarily by Jewish writers and some US academics". That is the edit that people keep reverting. Rod (A. Smith) 20:27, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Every other internet dictionary I have looked at starts by defining "Common Era" as "Christian Era" (except for those that just say "see Christian Era"). That is why I am changing it, and why I see nothing wrong in saying that. The bit about it being used by Jews comes from Microsoft Encarta - and I must admit, through searching the internet, they do seem to be correct in that. The only other main usage I have seen is amongst American academics, although I would not be concerned if that bit were not added. I trust that explains my additions to the text.

Turning to "culturally neutral", you do keep reinserting it. As noted above, I believe the evidence shows that that adjective is wrong. I believe that "religiously neutral" is similarly false (there are enough comments on the internet referring to its usage being seen by many as anti-Christian to suggest this is wrong).

I have for now replaced "culturally neutral" and "religiously neutral" by "an", so as to remove the bits I disagree with. But in the spirit of compromise, I have not reinserted my initial additions. I trust this will be an acceptable way of resolving the issue, SCCC 21:10, 20 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks for that NPOV edit . Rod (A. Smith) 07:30, 21 June 2006 (UTC)