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

[Neil Harris]

MacGyverMagic/Mgm wrote:
> On 9/5/06, Guettarda <guettarda at 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