[Mod] Common Era Mod

[Sharule]

This is a really simple mod. Let me start with a short introduction.
I havent used the terms BC or AD since lower high school. My junior and senior years I was encouraged to use BCE(Before Common Era) and CE(Common era). In my higher education I have never heard a grad student of professor utter the terms BC or AD.
Therefor I found Civ IV's use of the archaic terms very unprofessional, as well as a little religious, in a game that tries so hard to present the religions equally.
This mod is simple.
It changes the years from BC and AD to BCE and CE, both in game and in the save game files.
I hope you like it, and please comment.

[LDiCesare]

I never heard the term common era before.

[TomVeil]

Honestly, I've always found BCE and CE to be far more offensive than BC and AD. Common Era implies that the world's cultures had nothing in common, then POOF JESUS and now they all have him in common.
AD makes no such claims: the Anno Domini (year of the Lord) does not imply that non-Christians agree that Jesus is Lord, just that non-Christians acknowledge that this was roughly the year when that guy who all the white people say is the Lord was born.

[UnGenius]

Yeah, I always thought the BCE/CE thing was a bit ridiculous and over-the-top. I've never personally met anybody who was actually offended by the letters BC or AD. It's something that's so ingrained in Western culture that it has lost any religious meaning whatsoever. Changing the terms not only does nothing to alter the origins of our dating system, but it is also actually quite offensive if you can look past the silliness of it. Why are people so obsessed with surgically removing every trace of Christian influence in our culture? What drives these people to try to invent an alternate reality where Christianity and other religions never even existed?

Oh wait, that's right. The ACLU.

[rogerbacon]

I had never heard of the terms BCE and CE until I heard them one day on A&E (Arts and Entertainment channel). They didn't explain what they were but, based on context, I figured they must stand for "Before Christian Era" and "Christian Era". Who knew?

Roger Bacon

[troyjgrice]

Just when you thought political correctness was dead it rears it's attractively challenged head. Please.

[Sharule]

This is not a mod intended to be PC. It is a mod to try to make the game have a little more of an academic flare. I did not create this because I am offended by the terms BC and AD, but rather because I find them elementary and archaic. Like I said, in my higher education, BC and AD are not used. If you dont like it, dont use it. For me I am more comfterable with the common era terms.
If you have never heard BCE and CE used, thats great, but more me I am more familiar and comfterable with them.

Oh, and if anyone wants more information, here is a wikipedia article.
Common Era

[Usually Insane]

can't you make a mod that starts to count from year 0 instead of year 6000 bc/bce?

that would be the most logical thing to do...

[Sharule]

Im working on a mod to use the Hebrew calender. It would start at 0 and run through 5810. I have to figure out how to syncronize the dating, since 2050 is equal to 5810, however 4000 BCE would be before the Hebrew calender starts. I would either have to have it start at 1240 Prior to anno mundi(Anno Mundi meaning 'In the Year of the World), or I would have to rework the turns so that there are only 5810 years.
Im not quite sure which to go with.
I would like to work with some other calender systems too, perhaps the Islamic calender, with BH and AH(Before and After the Hajj).
I dont know if there is wide support for it, but I think other calenders are fascinating.

[Ghandis Khan]

I think what would really be cool is if you could start the game at year 0 then count up until the time that you choose a state religion. Then your calendar would reset to the year that particular religion was founded. Of course, I have no idea how to acually make this mod.

[koningtiger]

Dont say BCE/CE its more academic, that is a bit confusing for say the less, its the first time i hear of it, and as me all of my college teacher mates.

You can allways use the Hebrew, Islamic, or whatever you want calendar, dont have to use the Christian one.

The fact is that world has taken the Julian Calendar as standard, like the world has taken english as something like standard. All we can agree/like with that or not, but so is live.

I agree that you make a mod with the names you want, but dont say that our calendar is arcaic only becouse you dont like it.

[Sharule]

The Julian Calender is Archaic. Most of the world uses a modified version called the Gregorian Calender, adopted first in 1582, and the last major nation to adopt it was Russia, after the 1917 revolution. The Julian calender had a tedency to be off in its calculations, and therefor was replaced. However in the switch over, AD and BC was still used.
However, the Gregorian calender still traces its roots to the Julian calender, which was invented by the Romans in 46 BCE, before Christianity. This shows that the adoption of the BC and AD were a latter adition made by the Roman Catholic church, and not a inherant part of the calender.
The Gregorian Calender is a brilliant Solar calender, and I do not believe that it is archaic, it is a vast improvement over the Hebrew, Islamic and Julian calenders.
However changing the denotations from AD/BC to CE/BCE does not change the calender, only its conotations with Religion, which many Academics and Religious peoples(mostly Muslims and Jews) feel is archaic.
Nothing else about the Gregorian Calender is christian, it has its root in the Polytheist Romans, who named the months after gods and Caesars.
I do think the Gregorian calender is brilliant, and it is in official use in most of the world. It is highly acurate and important. So no, I do not feel that it itself is archaic.

[koningtiger]

Sorry, you are right, i was talking about the Gregorian one.