When did respect turn into political correctness? : BC , AD, BCE, CE

 | Giles Fraser | Comment is free | The Guardian

The politics of being offended are complicated and subtle. In the first instance there are those who claim to be offended by (take your pick) cartoons of the prophet, by Page 3, by replacing references to "Christmas" with "winter holidays". Some are genuinely offended by these things, and some feign offence as leverage for some desired change. On the other hand, there are also those who point the finger at people who are allegedly claiming offence when they are really doing no such thing.

Take the latest nonsense. The BBC has advised that BC (as in Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini) ought to be changed to BCE (Before the Christian Era) and CE (Christian Era). Familiar voices on the right – and more specifically those who have a track record of bashing the BBC (I know, this is all becoming very acronym-heavy) – have got all steamed up about it.

Predictably, London mayor Boris Johnson got the boot in early: "The BBC needs to stop spending time and money on this sort of footling political correctness. Someone needs to get out down the corridor and find the individual who passed this edict and give him or her a figurative kick in the pants."

And Daily Mail columnist Melanie Phillips has added her two pennies' worth: "The idea that any of us would be offended by anyone else using BC and AD would be totally ridiculous. How could we possibly take offence, since these are the commonly used and understood expressions?" "Political correctness gone mad" is a phrase they have on cut and paste to use for every occasion.

The funny thing is, she admits that she employs BCE herself: "Along with many other Jewish people I sometimes use CE and BCE, since the terms BC and AD are not appropriate to me." So why is it so hard to understand the BBC wanting to use these terms as broadcasting standard? At theological college, where I trained to be a priest, the use of BCE was pretty standard practice. And this was more years ago than I care to remember. So there is nothing new here. As far as I know, not even Richard Dawkins is suggesting we abandon the whole calendar so as to purge our culture of insidious Christian references (AD: After Dawkins? – I don't think so).

This has nothing to do with faith. As Boris admits: "My faith is like a very wonky aerial, and I sometimes find the signal pretty scratchy." No, this is all about having a go at the BBC. And no doubt these writers would like a pop at the CofE, too – after all, they are the last two nationalised industries. But actually no one is offended here. And no one is using being offended on another's behalf to drive forward some politically correct agenda. It's called simple respect for difference. And long may it continue.