MacGyverMagic/Mgm wrote:
On 9/5/06, Guettarda guettarda@gmail.com 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.
No, it merely requires our readers to assume Jesus was born in the year 0. The dating method doesn't state anything about his supposed God/Messiah-ness.
Mgm
Except, of course, that...
...no-one should believe that Jesus was born in year zero, since there was no year zero in the Anno Domini scheme, that no-one used the Anno Domini scheme until the middle of the sixth century CE, that the best known estimates for Jesus' birth put it round about 4 BCE, and that CE and BCE mean "Common Era" and "before the Common Era" respectively.
Perhaps we should just use TAI or JD(UT1), and eliminate all ambiguity.
-- Neil, on Julian day 2453984