One Missouri state senator proposes to make A.D. and B.C. the official terms used when referring to dates.

Sen. John Lowden (R-St. Louis County) presented SB 669 and SJR 25 to the Senate Pensions, Vetern’s Affairs and General Laws Committee on March 28.

“It’s silly to try to wipe God out by changing everything to say B.C.E. and C.E. In addition to being irritating, it will cost money to do what the head of the U.N. is proposing to do,” Lowden said. “Kofi Anon (head of United Nations) says the ‘Christian calendar’ is the common calendar and let’s acknowledge it. But then let’s change Christian to common.”

Anon, like many scholars, believes this is less offensive to non-Christians, especially since only one in 300 people in the world is actually a Christian. But Lowden disagrees with this logic.

“I don’t think there is a Buddhist anywhere in the world that’s harmed by using A.D. and B.C., and if there’s a Buddhist country that wants to use their own calendar they’re welcome to do so,” Lowden said. “But there’s no reason we ought to follow the Buddhists. I think changing the name is expensive and wasteful. I’m sorry if someone is offended by that.”

The argument of why they would be offended stems from the fact that it might be perceived that if a non-Christian is forced to use A.D. and B.C., then they are acknowledging the supremacy of the Christian God or Jesus Christ.

And with many Representatives in the House being of religions other than Christianity, this may be a cause for debate if the bill reaches the floor.

But Lowden argues that we were founded as ‘one nation under God’ and the words ‘in the year of our Lord’ are mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, so the U.S. should make a law that requires all government, state and local documents use B.C. and A.D.

Even though the United Nations, along with three states has already adopted the practice of using the terms C.E. and B.C.E., Lowden said this is just one of those new age ideas that Missouri doesn’t need to follow.

He said Kentucky, Nevada and Pennsylvania have only adopted the alternative terms to appear ‘politically correct.’

And this is just a fad that will soon go away so why spend the money to change the system that has been a common practice for more than a thousand years.

The bill may even require schools to only use textbooks that used this standard.

“That would be left up to rule making and adjudication,” Lowden said. “But we certainly want to discourage it.”