[Freeciv-Dev] (PR#2596) Re: Nondenominational calendar patch

["cameron@xxxxxxxxxx via RT" <rt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Although it's hardly relevent, "nondenominational" is a type of Christian, and 
someone billed as an antropologist should probably know that. :P 
<http://www.called.org/ntchrist.htm>

On Mon, Dec 16, 2002 at 06:49:37PM -0500, Eric S. Raymond wrote:
> This patch makes all necessary changes to go fom BC/AD (Before
> Christ/Anno Domini) to BCE/CE (Before Common Era/Common Era).  A good
> thing unless we want to assume that all Freeciv's future users will
> be Christians.
> 
> If you haven't encountered this usage before, that's because it's 
> mostly an academic one.  Other educated native speakers of English 
> recognize it but don't generate it spomtaneously.

Many people aren't that well educated, and won't recognize it without at least 
some consideration. I don't think this is a good change.

If we aren't happy with the current date system, I think we should use our own 
calendar, starting at zero. If we're unwilling to use the Christian calendar by 
name (BC, AD), I don't see why we should use it in form. All calendars are 
equally arbitrary (unless you believe in the event that a particular calendar 
is purportedly related to).

Here's a thought: why not have a bunch of different calendar systems, and have 
them be nation-specific? The Romans based their calendar on the foundation of 
Rome by Romulus and Remus, 2754 years ago (753 BC). Christians base their 
calendar on the coming of Christ 2001 years ago (1 AD), and Muslims base their 
calendar on the coming of Muhammad 1380 years ago (622 AD). The Jewish calendar 
appears to be based on the formation of the world by God, 5763 years ago (3762 
BC). (How convenient.) Mayan dates are rather bizarre, but there exist tools to 
decipher them <http://www.pauahtun.org/cgi-bin/gregmaya.py>.