[WikiEN-l] Fwd: [Wikitech-l] BC vs BCE era names

Wed Sep 6 20:07:21 UTC 2006

On 9/6/06, Ray Saintonge <saintonge at telus.net> wrote:
> ScottL wrote:
>
> >maru dubshinki wrote:
> >
> >
> >>On 9/5/06, ScottL <scott at mu.org> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>>Guettarda wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>>Actually one of the major issues in the dispute is whether BC/AD violates
> >>>>NPOV because it requires Wikipedia to make an assertion the Jesus is the
> >>>>Messiah/God. BCE/CE merely describes the condition, and thus does what the
> >>>>NPOV policy asks.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>> If I am not mistaken the beginning and ends of the months etc were
> >>>originally set up based on astrological principals. Would it violate
> >>>NPOV (since we would then be making astrological assertions) to keep
> >>>using months?
> >>>
> >>>
> >>But those astrological measurements are objective and empirically
> >>verifiable in a way that AD/BC is not, and often track significant
> >>events, such as the changing of the pole star.
> >>
> >>
> >According to [[March]], the month is named after Mars the god of war.
> >The fact that he is the god of war is empirically verifiable?
> >
> We also need to abandon our days of the week.  It is clearly a breach of
> NPOV to go around celebrating a barbarian God like [[Thor]] every seven
> days.

A significant difference being that nobody worships the
Norse/German/Roman gods these days, nor do people live in cultures
dominated by worshippers of Norse/German/Roman gods. Another is that
the names of the days are named after Norse/German/Roman gods, but do
not assert that they *are* gods. On the other hand, billions still
worship Jesus and assert he is "our God", as does the designation A.D.

Jay.