BCE stands for "Before Common Era." It is a secular and more inclusive alternative to BC, which means "Before Christ." Both BCE and BC refer to the years before the traditional estimated birth year of Jesus Christ, counting backward from that point in time. BCE is used alongside CE ("Common Era"), which corresponds to AD ("Anno Domini," Latin for "in the year of the Lord") in the Gregorian calendar system. This notation is widely used in academic, scientific, and interfaith contexts to avoid religious connotations while maintaining the same chronological framework as BC/AD
