The Catholic Church has criticised one of Scotland’s premier museums after removing the Christian calendar from its exhibits, reported the Scottish Herald.
The BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini) labels have been replaced with BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era) at the Burrell Collection, Glasgow, although the numerical dating system remains the same.
After a complaint from a visitor, Simon Eccles, the Collection’s senior curator, responded: “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.”
Mr Eccles said that 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,” he said.
The Catholic Church, however, has responded to the move with outrage. Peter Kearney, spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland, called the decision “yet another attack on Christianity by unrepresentative people”.
He said: “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?,” he said.
The Burrell Collection follows Glasgow’s St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art in introducing the secular calendar to its exhibits. Mr Kearney said: “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.”
Osama Saeed, the Scottish spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain, responded to the Collection’s assertion that the secular calendar had been introduced in order not to impose Christian beliefs on Glasgow’s multi-cultural society: “I couldn’t even say that’s the least of our worries. It isn’t a worry at all.”
Despite the Burrell Collection’s insistence that BCE and CE are “simple to understand”, it appears the secular dating system is causing some confusion among visitors to both their museum and St Mungo’s. A spokeswoman at the St Mungo Museum said: “Visitors ask on a regular basis what the abbreviations mean.”
