Phrase 'in the year of our Lord' to be restored in governor's documents

[Freddie Stubbs]

The Associated Press
3/29/2004, 3:09 a.m. ET


LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Jennifer Granholm has decided to restore the phrase "in the year of our Lord" to the date in official state documents bearing her signature, a spokeswoman said.

Granholm wasn't consulted when it was removed by her staff and replaced with numerals the day she took office 15 months ago, spokeswoman Liz Boyd said Sunday, and the governor didn't notice that it was gone.

Kelly Keenan, Granholm's legal counsel, told Detroit Free Press columnist Dawson Bell that the initial removal was based in part on the administration's belief that it was insensitive to non-Christians.

But more importantly, Keenan said, Granholm is a fan of the plain English movement in legal writing. Under that doctrine, the phrase "in the year of our Lord" would be extra and unnecessary words.

more: http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/news-13/108055496495110.xml

[Flagg]

1. theocracy

[DavidDvorkin]

2. Aargh.

One step forward, two steps back. It hurts more when the steps back are instigated by someone on the Democratic side.

[Amerpie]

3. Pandering

The "Karl Rove-ian" pandering for votes from Christians is plain gross. Instead of doing something truly Christian, like feeding the hungry, politicians wear religion on their sleeve in transparent attempts to curry favor with the religious dumbos who fall for such crap.

[gayrebel83]

4. If Jesus were alive today...

...the Right would accuse Him of undermining Christian values. Cuz let's face it, He was quite the lefty. Go, Jesus, go!

[Lorien]

17. That's why the fundies focus on his death

instead of his teachings. A rabid conservative fundie I once knew ADMITTED that Jesus was a "far left liberal", but said that "what matters is that he died for our sins", I asked her why she was so opposed to liberals if she knew that Jesus was one himself, but she just kept shaking her head and saying "that doesn't matter! That doesn't matter"! :wtf:

[gayrebel83]

22. You might like...

this site and this one. Many fundies need to be taken to task for their unjust appropriation of Jesus. I worship a God of caring, generosity, tolerance, compassion, and love., thank you very much! :D

[July]

24. Welcome.

Hope to see you again soon.

[newyawker99]

21. Hi gayrebel83!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[gayrebel83]

23. Hey to you too!

:hi:

[Malva Zebrina]

5. Archaeologists use C.E. and B.C.E to denote

Common Era and Before Common Era. Common Era coincides with Christian era or AD--Latin--anno domini--or in the year of Our Lord

[54anickel]

7. Yes, I think she is wisely doing a CYA and distancing herself from

the Newdow case. Here's an article that goes a bit more in depth on the decision.

http://www.freep.com/news/politics/polcol29_20040329.htm

snip>

There's a good reason that objection hasn't been made in the past, of course; it's NOT a religious expression. Even the humorless fanatics who think the only significant principle in American public life is the separation of church and state understand that.

To quote the Web site of the Council for Secular Humanism (www.secularhumanism.org) on the significance of "in the year of our Lord" in the U.S. Constitution: "Conventional forms of dating have nothing to do with religious commitment or belief."

snip>

Boyd says Granholm's staff "got it wrong" when they concluded otherwise. It's easy to understand how they might have done so. They're working for a governor whose efforts to avoid giving offense sometimes verge on parody (in a major address, she once spoke of the importance of inclusion for Michigan's population of Sikhs).

But they are also working for an exceptionally deft politician, who has shown an uncanny instinct for sensing when her predilection for liberal activism is at odds with mainstream Michigan.

snip>

My guess is that her political instincts have served her well again. Whatever benefits accrue from a politically-correct rewrite of the calendar of western civilization (locking down the Buddhist vote?) aren't worth the trouble. I don't think she's all that thankful we brought it up.

Signed, Dawson Bell March 29, 2004 A.D.

<endsnip

There's much more in the article, but I've already snipped 5 paragraphs.

[BiggJawn]

6. "In the Year of Our Lord"=6 words....

"Common Era"=2 words.
Which is "plainer English"

But of course, to say "Common Era" is just "Discrimmination against Christians" and EVERYONE knows this is a "Christian Nation" (treaty of Tripoli notwithstanding)

To say "In the Year of Our Lord" is confusing. I don't HAVE a "Lord", so how many years ware we talking about here? To me, EVERY year is "Zero, A.D." Yeah, I know you can interchange "CE" and "AD", but why should I?

So how much of the "Left Behind" vote does she figure this will get her?

[Dhalgren]

8. Again, Democratic politicans fail to recognize

the dangerous growth of the "Taliborn" movement. This Christian "jihad" against American values and principles is getting out of hand and we have no representatives with the backbone to stand up and say "enough"!
"In the year of our Lord"?! Are you fucking kidding me?! Why don't we go back to avowing the flatness of the earth? How about we start insisting again that the sperm carries the complete foetus and that the woman is just in "incubator"? How about leeches? You feel sick? Well, you just need to be bled good and get those bad humors our of your system! Mother of Zeus! This is just plain stupid!

[BayCityProgressive]

9. I really don't think this is a big deal either way

on the one hand we aren't slipping into an evil dictatorship because our fairly liberal governor uses this phrase. Give me a break. Secondly, no one would have known or cared about this except the far far right fundy nut cases that won't vote for her anyhow.

[hayu_lol]

11. It is because of the fundy 'nut cases' that...

this becomes an issue. Were this governor just a private citizen, not a problem. Because she is a governor and because she represents the people(all the people)in her area of control...using this phrase becomes unconstitutional. Of course it will have to go to court and cost us all a pile of money before it runs it's course.

[Dhalgren]

13. Then why did she do it?

What would cause her to back-pedal on this, if only people who won't vote for her anyway care?

[PassingFair]

16. She's a major Roman

...Catholic, that is.

[Mississippi Liberal]

10. I don't see anything to get upset about in this.

If there's anything in our society that constitutes "ceremonial deism," the phrase "in the year of our Lord" or "A.D." is it. It's been in common usage for a 1000 years a least, and what's more, from a religious viewpoint it's not even accurate. IIRC, Jesus was most likely born in 12 B.C.

[leesa]

15. I think everyone is feeling sick and tired of having Christian thought

shoved down our throat. I know I am sick to death of it!

[SoCalDem]

12. Does Michigan, or any state, really have many documents

from BC? The only real reason to even differentiate the reference would be to avoid confusion on dates..

"Oh, NOW I understand...that document was from waaaay back in 1998 BC, and I got confused "..:eyes:

[truthspeaker]

14. even though I'm a non-Christian this doesn't bother me

"In the Year of Our Lord" is the literal translation of "Anno Domini", which is what A.D. stands for. There's no denying our dating system has a Christian source, so I don't see this as establishing religion.

But if it were me I'd use "A.D." not just to be more sensitive, but to save paper.

[TahitiNut]

19. "C.E." (meaning Common Era) has replaced "A.D."

Christians, of course, think of it as "Christian Era."

[truthspeaker]

20. "has replaced"

Some people use it, others don't. But either way we're counting from the estimated year of Jesus's birth. I don't have a problem with this specific phrase because it has historical meaning in addition to it's religious connotations. I don't mind calling the days of the week after Nordic and Roman gods, even though I don't believe in them.

[Merlin]

18. What an ass!

And here I thought she had brains!