Quote Originally Posted by Jaw View Post
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...C-lessons.html

Schools across the country have stopped using the terms BC and AD in religious education lessons for fear of offending non-Christians.

The traditional terms BC, Before Christ, and AD, Anno Domini, are being ditched for BCE – Before Common Era, and CE – Common Era.

The new terms still denote the periods before and after the birth of Christ.

Local authority committees drawing up religious education syllabuses say the old terms may upset minorities or non-believers. But critics blasted the move as a ‘capitulation to political correctness’.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey said the rulings by the religious education committees were a ‘great shame’.

Muslim and Jewish leaders were also mystified, saying they were not offended by the familiar terms.

Local authority committees – known as Standing Advisory Councils for Religious Education (SACREs) – from Brighton and Essex are among a growing number urging heads to ditch BC and AD.
Old news: my high-school (in the Florida Panhandle Bible Belt, no less) was using BCE/CE back in my freshman year (2000). We all thought it was stupid then, as fourteen-year-olds, because it didn't change the counting, just the acronym—which is why BCE/CE are actually not very common these days in the US. You much more commonly see "years before present" today, in hard-science contexts, and culturally-specific timelines (often dynastic) in histories, though BC/AD seem thoroughly entrenched at large.