A New Calendar for Atheism

[rexbeccarox]

What would changing the calendar do?

[kılıç_mehmet]

What would changing the calendar do?

I don't know, you tell me. A calendar is supposed to serve a practical purpose.

[rexbeccarox]

I... I think that's the first time I've actually agreed with an entire post of yours, mehmet!

[kılıç_mehmet]

Thanks...I guess...

[theyear12013]

To understand the point about the calendar as a symbol of religious or cultural significance: here is a sample of active calendars in the world. Why do these cultures and religions sustain these calendars in the modern world? It isn't practical is it? So why are they doing it? Please engage the idea of the calendar systems being active even if they are not used by the state (though I don't know if China, Israel and Saudi Arabia incorporate them into the state or not?)

Holocene calendar 12013

Gregorian calendar 2013
Assyrian calendar 6763
Buddhist calendar 2557
Chinese calendar 壬辰年 (Water Dragon)
4709 or 4649
4710 or 4650
Hebrew calendar 5773–5774
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat 2069–2070
- Shaka Samvat 1935–1936
- Kali Yuga 5114–5115
Iranian calendar 1391–1392
Islamic calendar 1434–1435
Korean calendar 4346
Thai solar calendar 2556

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar

[kılıç_mehmet]

My good friend, when a Saudi Businessman signs anything with a western company, he surely does not use the Hijri calendar while doing it.
The gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world, so its the most practical calendar.

[theyear12013]

My good friend, when a Saudi Businessman signs anything with a western company, he surely does not use the Hijri calendar while doing it.
The gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world, so its the most practical calendar.

I understand the skepticism and sarcasm by everyone btw. Also -- I know China, Israel and Saudi all use the Gregorian calendar for business purposes -- I meant in their official government docs do they use their respective cultural religious years as well? I have lived in the Middle East and done business with Saudis and many elite are quite secular.

I'm just trying to be provocative. Let me put it another way -- practically no one will change the calendar system now without some exogenous event. BUT every long lasting ideology and identity (theist Hebrew-Muslim etc or atheist nationalist Chinese), tends to have a calendar system and though they don't use it for everyday purposes -- it exists within their communal rituals. The Gregorian just puts Christianity at the center of the entire modern world. 2000 years is arbitrary and we all use it because of European Empire and now US dominance etc.

The calendar won't shift anytime soon without some huge cataclysmic event or space travel or something crazy like aliens, but I'm just saying -- when I'm arguing with a religious Christian, Muslim or Jewish human being, its a fun argument to use ... its really the year 12000. Your prophet's significance is zero and your short timeline is irrelevant. I mean let's use year 8 billion for Earth... now that's impractical.

[kılıç_mehmet]

I understand the skepticism and sarcasm by everyone btw. Also -- I know China, Israel and Saudi all use the Gregorian calendar for business purposes -- I meant in their official government docs do they use their respective cultural religious years as well? I have lived in the Middle East and done business with Saudis and many elite are quite secular.

So what exactly is the problem with this?

The Gregorian just puts Christianity at the center of the entire modern world. 2000 years is arbitrary and we all use it because of European Empire and now US dominance etc.

Well, there is not much we can do about that right now. And frankly, this isn't really a priority for most people today.

The calendar won't shift anytime soon without some huge cataclysmic event or space travel or something crazy like aliens, but I'm just saying -- when I'm arguing with a religious Christian, Muslim or Jewish human being, its a fun argument to use ... its really the year 12000. Your prophet's significance is zero and your short timeline is irrelevant. I mean let's use year 8 billion for Earth... now that's impractical.

Well, for you maybe. For someone else, there might be a significance. For me, the only significance it has is for practical purposes. I use the gregorian calendar simply because we have used it ever since the foundation of our republic, which was implemented in order to be more in sync with western countries. So we're having the same new years eve and shit.
Unless our people become as powerful as I'd like them to be, I think we need not to revert back to traditional calendars just yet.[/align]

[NoraBrimstone]

Changing the calendar would be impractical, expensive, confusing, and ridiculous. There's no point in it. I don't give a shit that the way we date the year is a religious thing, it's a simple system that we all basically understand so let's just leave it at that.

My only little issue with the calendar is the order of the months. When September, October, November and December became the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th months, they should have changed the names, because it just bugs me that the names suggest they should be the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th months. But that doesn't matter either.

[downbeatplumb]

I thought this thread was going to be about fit atheists posing naked or something.

Sorry I clicked on it now.