Texas State Board of Education considers ditching BC, AD calendar dating system

TEXAS - A draft of new social studies curriculum in Texas removes the commonly used BC and AD calendar dating system.

The terms meaning "Before Christ" and "Year of Our Lord", would be written out in place of more religiously-neutral language.

BC would be replaced by BCE (Before Common Era) and AD would be replaced with CE (Common Era).

Andrew Pearce, a certified social studies teacher, brought attention to the change at the Texas State Board of Education meeting on Monday.

"The Biblical authority for BC and AD was created over 500 years after the events described. So it has nothing to do with removing Christ from the calendar, and everything to do with accuracy," said board member Rebecca Bell-Metereau.

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Barry Strauss, an author and historian at Cornell University, says the widely-used dating system was originally invested by a monk in the Middle Ages.

"It was thought year 1 was the year Jesus was born, we now know he was probably born in 4 BC," said Strauss. 

The Texas Education Agency says the discussion is still early in the process, and the issue will likely be discussed at length this fall.