The American Dating System
Today’s Daily Blog is in recognition of Independence Day. One argument that I get from some particularly stupid fundamentalist Christians surprisingly a lot is that Christianity must be true because we use Christ’s alleged birth as the basis for our dating system; BC meaning “Before Christ” and AD meaning “Anno Domini” (in the year or our lord).
Scholars have rejected that dating system is favor of another more politically correct dating system of BCE (Before the Common Era) and CE (Common Era). However, for some strange and surely completely coincidental reason the Common Era happens to coincide perfectly with the Christian dating system based around the alleged birth of Jesus. What a copout. Personally, I don’t really like that, but for lack of another dating-system it is definitely preferable to the Christian one.
Next, I have noticed that most of the fundamentalists seem to think of themselves as super patriotic despite the fact that more often than not, they have zero clue about the Constitution, US History, and think that patriotism means wearing and waving the American Flag 24/7. Many of them are supporters of the failed attempt to rebellion against the United States known as the Confederacy. But I digress.
So, it is time for an experiment. Let’s make the fundamentalists choose. Are they more loyal to America or to Christianity? On this Independence Day weekend, I am announcing my extremely ambitious plan to remake the dating system yet again. The 12 month calendar can stay the same, but the new year zero will no longer be the alleged birth of Jesus. Instead, it will be the Signing of the American Declaration of Independence (Formerly 1776 AD or CE). That means that effective immediately today’s date will be Thursday, July 2rd 233 AE (American Era). For those not gifted in math, all you have to do is take the year you want to convert and subtract 1776 from that year on our calculating device.
Now I know that America isn’t the center of the world and the Earth is a big place. But let’s face facts the American Declaration of Independence did reshape the world first by putting the seeds in motion for the creation of our current super power status. Second, The Declaration re-popularized democracy and third by making governments accountable to their people and inspiring people of all nations to rebel against unjust rule. The American Revolution was the revolution for the entire world. Besides, this is after all an experiment to test the loyalties of fundamentalist Christians in America.
Call to Action: Please contact your Congressperson and both of your Senators and let them know that you support the American Dating System and that they should propose the bill. The year is 233 AE (American Era) and anything before that would be BAE (Before the American Era). Let’s see if the uber-patriotic fundamentalists will put their religion over their patriotic need to put America first.
Below, I have drafted a letter that I am sending out and am encouraging you to also send out to your Senators and congressperson. They usually respond to every letter they receive first with a form letter of acknowledgement and then a few weeks later with a more in depth letter. When you do get that in depth letter back, please come back to this blog and let us know what your elected official has said.
Dear [elected official],
As Independence Day is right around the corner I was thinking about our dating system. What I mean by this is the way Americans and people around the world denote years. Traditionally, we use the BC/AD system which is a blatant endorsement of the Christian religion. BC as you are no doubt aware, means “Before Christ” and AD means “Anno Domini,” Latin for “In the Year of Our Lord.” I am a non-Christian patriotic American who strongly believes in the principle of Church/State separation, the Constitution, and the Supreme Court’s legal precedent of Lemon v. Kurtzman.While we could opt for the more scholarly dating system of BCE/CE, I still think this is an endorsement of the Christian religion since the “Common Era” is just a politically correct way of saying the Christian Era. America should not use the alleged birth of a particular religious figure as the basis for our dating system.
I have a proposal to make and it is somewhat controversial. I propose that you make a bill in favor of a new American dating system which uses the signing of the Declaration of Independence as the basis. The year 1776 would now be the year 0. We would currently be in the year 233 AE (American Era). Anything before the Declaration would be BAE (Before the American Era).
This is a serious proposal with obvious Constitutional support. But it is also a controversial proposal and so I can understand that if you don’t want your name all over the media you might not be the person to bring this proposal to life. But I ask you to consider it on this Independence Day weekend.
Thank you,
