my secular rantings, let me show you them

[kaitou]

I went with friends to the Dayton Art Institue this weekend to check out the Oktoberfest/ Roman Art Exhibit. The exhibit was very cool, most of it having to do with how many religions and culters were rubbing shoulders in the Roman Empire. The centerpiece of the exhibit was a mosaic floor from the synagogue in Hammam Lif. This was especially interesting as I'd just been reading about early chuches and THEIR mosaic floors in archeology magazine. But my favorite thing was probably the glass. There were some beautiful glass khol vials and little pots that sparkled with color, shot with golden glitter. When I coveted them out loud, my friend - an ex-archeologist who specialized in glass- informed me that that's what happens to glass when you stick it in damp soil for a few thousand years. Alas! And I was hoping I could pick up a recreation in the museum shop. Mmm. If I am ever fabulously wealthy.....

However I was greatly annoyed by the people around me that were annoyed by the fact that all the dates were given as BCE / CE instead if BC/AD. It was all I could do to keep a civil tongue in my mouth when this one guy was going off on what a disgrace it was. At the end of the exhibit was a guest book for the exhibit. I flipped through it, smiling at people who'd signed for their kids, or put down memories of travel to modern Rome... and noticed that there were a lot of complaints about it not being BC/AD. I wasn't able to control myself there, and left a few pointed comments on the intelligence of these people. I know it was stupid, but I couldn't help it. Look peoples, even if the bible is 100% totally true and accurate, that would still mean that Jesus was born in the fall between the years 4-7. So your precious Anno Domini doesn't even actually apply correctly anyway. If it makes you feel better you can call it Christian Era instead of Common/Current Era. There now, everyone can go home happy.

Comments

[kahlii.livejournal.com]

What's even more stupid is that a good portion of them probably think BC/AD stand for 'Before Christ' and 'After Death'.

[kaitou1412.livejournal.com]

Probably. Really, I think the ironic thing about it was that the whole point of the exhibit was about how all of these religons, Christianity, Judaism, Cult of Mithros, Minerva...were coexisting relatively peacefully.

[kahlii.livejournal.com]

It's really sad how self-centered the religions are these days. Silly people and their silly crusades. Sometimes I really wish they could all see they're all preaching the same thing. >.

[kaitou1412.livejournal.com]

I'm really not anti-religion, or anti-christianity. But they just keep making me angrier and angrier with their attitude that I just want to run all the way to atheism, you know? Or go all Twisp and Catsby...it's not FOR you!

[kaitou1412.livejournal.com]

And I keep meaning to tell you how much I absolutely adore your icon. But I forget EVERY time!

[kahlii.livejournal.com]

Thanks! ^^ When I saw that picture on the cover of the chapter I immediately thought that it had to be made into an icon.

[m-steelgrave.livejournal.com]

Not that I'm agreeing with them (I'm certainly not...my performance texts professor still uses BC/AD and it bugs the bejesus out of me), but if you haven't taken a history class in the last 15 years, the change to BCE/CE isn't something that's likely to come up in conversation. They probably just don't know any better.

On the other hand, part of me secretly hopes we'll convert to metric one day just to make their heads explode.

[kaitou1412.livejournal.com]

If anyone had seemed confused about it, that would have been one thing. But most of the comments in the guest book said things like "As a Christian I am deeply offended by the DAI's use of CE." And that just mashes all my asshole buttons.

It's bad enough to bite my tongue at work so I can not cause huge scenes with the people that don't believe in evolution and literally think the world is 6000 years old.

(And I'm totally with you on metric. Thank god we use it at work 'cause we're a Japanese company)

[m-steelgrave.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see. In that case, yes, they're being assholes. As a vaguely Christian-type person, I am deeply offended by their stupidity. Give the lot of us a bad name.

Makes me think of the time last year I was teaching Paradise Lost and some mother sent me an e-mail to remind the kids that it was a work of FICTION. I wanted to reply that if I did that, then that made the Bible fiction, too, but I thought that might make her shoot Fundamentalist lasers out of her eyes.

[kaitou1412.livejournal.com]

Yes exactly! I mean, if I were to call myself anything, it would be Catholic. But it doesn't mean I have to turn off my rational brain to do it.

I'm just...tired of being afraid of funtamentalist laser eyes.

[dreamingcanyon.livejournal.com]

I guess none of those annoyed people were Jehovah's Witnesses -- JWs only use BCE/CE in their literature, never BC/AD due to the problem of determining Christ's real birthdate.