SB 716 - This act provides that the official dating standard used by
the state of Missouri shall be A.D., or Anno Domini, and B.C., or
Before Christ. Neither the state, nor any political subdivision, shall
use any other designation.
This act is identical to SB 669 (2007). While this might seem to be a Christian right feel good bill signifying nothing, the second sentence is the kicker. According to a report on KWMU on January 1, Loudon is moved to submit this to avoid Missouri paying homage to the politically correct CE/BCE (Common Era/ Before Common Era) movement. CE/BCE dates are the same as AD/BC-- they simply do not pay homage to Christ as a time marker. (Why good Christians want to relegate their Son of God to a timepiece is beyond me.) While members of other religions with separate calendars (Jews, Muslims and various Orthodox Christians among them) might object to being forced to use the AD/BC designation, the real problem with this law (other than it is silly, of course) is that second sentence. No official state business was conducted BC, as far as I know. However, the DNR Geological Survey has need of other time frames, like Ka, Ma and Ga (kilo-anno, mega-anno and giga-anno) in describing the soils and rocks of the state. Radiocarbon dating, archaeologists, historians and others who use vegetative dating methods (like dendrochronology-- dating tree rings to get an idea how old a tree was when it died) often use BP-- Before Present: present being defined as 1950 by the radiocarbon dating folks. Anyone have any idea exactly how many years before Christ the rhyolite boulders in Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park were laid down? Me neither. There are all sorts of reasons why some state agencies and state schools need to use other time frames than the 'standard' one -- this law, if passed would prevent that. Want to make Missouri academia a laughingstock? See that this law gets passed. Fingers crossed and eyes squeezed tight that this one stays in committee this year. Loudon is apparently a lame duck this year, and none too soon, by anyone's calendar. TeresaJ