Glasgow, Scotland - THE Catholic Church yesterday criticised one of Scotland's most popular museums after it dropped the Christian calendar from its exhibits.
The Burrell Collection, Glasgow, has changed the BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini) labels on its exhibits to BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era), although the numerical dates remain the same.
Peter Kearney, spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland, described the move as "outrageous double standards" and "yet another attack on Christianity by unrepresentative people".
After a visitor wrote to complain about the change, Simon Eccles, the museum's senior curator, replied: "The reason for our current use of these terms is that we prefer not to impose a Christian dating terminology on pre-Christian and non-Christian cultures, out of respect for their beliefs and values.
"The terms before the common era and common era are simple to understand, are in increasingly common use, and follow the same numerical dating system that has been used conventionally.
"We cannot assume these days that everyone has an education in Latin, so that the term Anno Domini may be obscure to many.
"Its positioning before the date may also be confusing. In Glasgow we are increasingly a non-Christian, multi-cultural community and therefore should not impose Christian beliefs where these may be unacceptable."
However, Mr Kearney said yesterday: "To say the museum is concerned about imposing Christian beliefs is just nonsense and outrageous double standards.
"Does that mean when the city council which runs the museum sends out invitations asking guests to RSVP, it is imposing French standards on society?
"If a council letter includes the traditional mark, NB, is it guilty of imposing ancient Roman culture on its citizens? All of these terms, including AD and BC are common, widely-used terms and cannot possibly be seen as offending anyone."
Mr Kearney added: "As for the claim the museum is concerned people do not have a knowledge of Latin so may not understand AD, that is simply ridiculous. When Starbucks sells its coffee as grande or venti, are they assuming their customers have an education in Italian or do you need a degree in Spanish to request chorizo on your pizza?"
Although Mr Eccles added that Glasgow museums, run by Glasgow City Council, had "not yet adopted a formal position on this", the Burrell Collection joins St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art in choosing these secular terms.
Mr Kearney expressed concern over this trend and said with regard to St Mungo Museum's use of the BCE and CE labelling: "That seems utterly ridiculous for a museum of religion. We use a Christian calendar, unless Glasgow City Council are planning to declare year 0 and start again."
Responding to the Burrell Collection's assertion that the change from using BC and AD had been made in part due to a desire not to impose Christian beliefs on Glasgow's multi-cultural society, Osama Saeed, the Scottish spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain, said: "I couldn't even say that's the least of our worries. It isn't a worry at all."
However, while the new labels may be politically correct, it appears they are still confusing.
A spokeswoman from the St Mungo Museum said: "Visitors ask on a regular basis what the abbreviations mean."
Staff at The Burrell Collection also reported the same problem.
TIMES TO PONDER
Different faith calendars, not all of which have 12 months.
Islamic calendar – based upon AD 622 (or CE, Common Era), the year of the Hegira when Muhammed travelled from Mecca to Medina.
"H" stands for Hegira.
This year = 1426 H
Hindu calendar – based upon the start of the Saka Era in 78 CE. "SE" stands for Saka Era.
This year = 1927 SE
Sikh calendar – the year begins on April 13 or 14 and the calendar is based on the Khalsa Era three centuries ago. "KE" stands for Khalsa Era.
This year = 307 KE
Baha'i calendar – the beginning of the Baha'i Era occurred in 1844 CE. The calendar has 19 months, each with 19 days.
"BE" stands for Baha'i Era.
This year = 161 BE
Jewish calendar – based on the belief that the universe was created 3761 BCE (Before Common Era). The Jewish calendar is moon based.
"AM" stands for Anno Mundi.
This year = 5766 AM