If Pastor Mark Driscoll is going to appeal to ancient history to make a point (article of 9/16/06), is it too much to ask that he at least bother to do his homework?

He wrote:
The ancient Greek philosopher Cicero, who died before Jesus was born, asked that decent Roman citizens not even speak of the cross because it was too disgraceful a subject for decent people.

Cicero was most assuredly not a Greek philosopher, despite some of his later writings of a philosophical nature, but a Roman orator, lawyer and statesman. Additionally, the passage Pastor Driscoll is alluding to is dealing with the illegal crucifixion of a Roman citizen, not crucifixion in general. The passage can be found in the latter part of his second oration against Gaius Verres, the Roman governor of Sicily. The Romans used crucifixion against slaves, foreigners and non-citizens. It was forbidden to be used against a Roman citizen. See In C. Verrem II, 158-170.