London, Sept 25 (ANI): The BBC has been accused of 'absurd political correctness' after dropping the terms BC and AD for fear of offending non-Christians.
The Corporation has replaced the familiar Anno Domini (the year of Our Lord) and Before Christ with the obscure terms Common Era and Before Common Era.
The BBC's religious and ethics department says the changes are necessary to avoid offending non-Christians.
It states: 'As the BBC is committed to impartiality it is appropriate that we use terms that do not offend or alienate non-Christians.
But critics say that the new terms are meaningless because, just like AD and BC, they still denote years in relation to the life of Christ.
The BBC's Learning and GCSE Bitesize websites, which are aimed at schoolchildren, also use the terms.
Several prominent Christians have blasted the Corporation for sidelining Christianity.
"This is absurd political correctness and these new terms do not mean anything to anyone," the Daily Mail quoted the Rev Peter Mullen, Anglican chaplain to the London Stock Exchange, as saying
"I think it's an example of the BBC trying to undermine Christianity by pushing an aggressive secularism.
"I would be very surprised if any other faith had complained about the use of Anno Domini and Before Christ.'
Meanwhile, the BBC said on Saturday night that it has not issued editorial guidance on the date systems.
"Both AD and BC, and CE and BCE are widely accepted date systems and the decision on which term to use lies with individual production and editorial teams," it added. (ANI)
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