National Trust turns back time on BC and AD
Museum staff inundated with complaints after terms changed ‘to avoid offending non-christians’
The National Trust has warned against ditching the terms “before Christ” (BC) and “Anno Domini” (AD) after one of its properties instead used an alternative to “avoid offending nonchristians”. Visitors to Avebury stone circle in Wiltshire complained of “mindless” political correctness.
THE National Trust has warned against ditching the terms “before Christ” (BC) and “Anno Domini” (AD) after one of its properties switched to an alternative to “avoid offending non-christians”. Visitors to the neolithic stone circle and museum at Avebury in Wiltshire have complained of “mindless” political correctness after “BCE” and “CE”, denoting “before common era” and “common era”, were used on a large timeline which explains the history of the World Heritage Site.
The terms have become more mainstream in recent years, having been adopted by parts of the BBC in 2011 and, more recently, a number of local education authorities.
However, critics have condemned their use as meaningless, pointing out that UK leaders of non-christian faiths have said they do not consider the traditional versions to be offensive.
Now, the National Trust has confirmed that it favours “BC” and “AD” and promised to instruct Avebury to amend the offending signage.
Visitors to Avebury told The Daily Telegraph that when they complained staff admitted that they had been inundated with similar negative comments.
The row follows a spate of controversies in which “progressive” initiatives have put the National Trust at odds with much of its membership.
In 2017, the organisation was accused of “airbrushing faith” after dropping the word “Easter” from its annual Easter egg hunt.
In the same year, the family of Robert Wyndham Ketton-cremer, the poet and historian who donated his Jacobean mansion to the trust, expressed outrage at its decision to posthumously “out” him as gay. Staff at the Norfolk property were also forbidden from working in visitor-facing roles if they refused to wear lanyards decorated in the “gay pride” rainbow colours.
David Pearson, who visited Avebury in August, said the use of the modern terms on the timeline spoilt what was otherwise a well-curated museum.
The retired banking consultant said staff had told him the modern terms had been adopted in order to avoid offending non-christian visitors.
“All it does is offend Christians, yet I very much doubt people of a different persuasion, or no persuasion, are offended by the normal version,” he said. “Nothing good comes of this sort of thing, except someone high up somewhere gets a satisfied feeling because they have done something modern.”
Last night, a spokesman for the trust said: “The National Trust’s editorial style is to use AD and BC when writing dates, and this has been the case for many years. We do this to ensure a consistent approach and will be looking at the way the dates are written at Avebury Manor.”
The management at Avebury declined invitations to comment.