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From the Kitchen Table

De-Christianization: In the 'Common Era'

by Peg Luksik

A little over 2,000 years ago, a Child was born to poor parents in a tiny town in an insignificant province of the great Roman Empire. The circumstances of the birth were inauspicious. The Child was born in a stable behind an overcrowded inn and laid in a manger instead of a crib.

Most of the people in the town did not even notice that anything unusual was happening that night.

Yet that birth is the central moment in human history. It is so pivotal that our very calendar is based on it. We count every one of our recorded years as either leading up to that birth, or following it. As children, we identified years with the initials B.C., meaning Before Christ, or A.D., meaning Anno Domini or Year of the Lord.

In our "post-Christian" era, those identifiers have been replaced by B.C.E. for Before Common Era, and C.E. for Common Era, in an open attempt to remove any mention of Christ's existence from our lives. The numbers naming the years haven't changed, nor has the reason for the division between the two eras. The only thing eliminated is the acknowledgement of that reason.

Talk about ignoring the elephant in the living room.

In the face of such open hostility, it is easy to become discouraged and angry. Watching pieces of our heritage being stripped away and knowing that our children and grandchildren will not grow up in the same culture as we did is painful.

On the other hand, we have the incredible opportunity to give those younger generations the chance to see us place enough value on our heritage of faith to fight for it. That example makes that faith more important to them as well as to us, and therefore stronger and more vibrant.

History proves it. From the Roman Empire to the twentieth century, no persecution or suppression has ever successfully stopped the faithful from sharing the faith with their children and their neighbors. So the question isn't, "Can we?" The question is, "Will we?"

In this case, those intent on erasing our Judeo-Christian heritage have unintentionally re-created what they were trying to destroy.

The initials B.C.E. can just as easily represent the phrase, "Before Christ Entered" as any other phrase; and the initials C.E. would therefore become, "Christ Entered". The dates stay the same, but the actual and awesome reason for the only division in recorded history is once again acknowledged.
The change is rationalized in the name of tolerance, but one does not have to accept the divinity of Christ to recognize the impact that His life has had on human history. Truth is not intolerant – it is real.

So while we can't rewrite the textbooks to change the initials, we can use the truthful explanation for those initials. We can teach our children that explanation. We can share that explanation with our friends and neighbors. We can use the phrases instead of just the initials whenever we see them.

In this final week before we celebrate His birth, let us together rejoice that it has been two millennia since Christ Entered the world! Merry Christmas!