So is crucifiction a bad or a good thing?

[drfuzzy]

The dying and rising god myth was ancient around the Mediterranean long before a scruffy little tribe of El worshipers who avoided eating pork ever came on the scene.   Kersey Graves listed 16 crucified "saviors" who pre-dated Jesus of Nazareth:

• Thulis of Egypt, 1700 B. C.[5]
  
  
• Chrishna of India, 1200 B.C.
  
  
• Crite of Chaldea, 1200 B.C.[6][7]
  
  
• Atys of Phrygia, 1170 B.C.
  
  
• Thammuz or Tammuz of Syria, 1160 B.C.
  
  
• Hesus or Eros 834 B.C.
  
  
• Bali of Orissa, 725 B.C.[8]
  
  
• Indra of Thibet (Tibet), 725 B.C.
  
  
• Iao of Nepaul (Nepal), 622 B.C.[9][10]
  
  
• Buddha Sakia (Muni) of India, 600 B.C.[11]
  
  
• Mitra (Mithra) of Persia, 600 B.C.
  
  
• Alcestos of Euripides, 600 B.C.
  
  
• Quezalcoatl of Mexico, 587 B.C.
  
  
• Wittoba of the Bilingonese, 552 B.C.[12]
  
  
• Prometheus or Æschylus of Caucasus, 547 B.C.
  
  
• Quirinus of Rome, 506 B.C.
  

  Carrier challenged some of Graves' work but never managed to disprove it.  The book claims that a number of these deities or god-men shared at least some traits of Jesus as described in the New Testament, drawing the strongest similarities with Krishna. For example, some figures had miraculous or virgin births, were sons of supreme gods, were born on December 25, had stars point to their birthplaces, were visited by shepherds and magi as infants, fled from death as children, exhibited traits of divinity in childhood, spent time in the desert, traveled as they taught, had disciples, performed miracles, were persecuted, were crucified, descended into hell after death, appeared as resurrections or apparitions, or ascended into heaven. 

It was a story so old that everyone knew it.  There is a report by an early historian (sorry, can't find it, will keep looking) about some people scoffing at early Christians, saying "we didn't believe that about ____, why should we believe the same thing about this Jew?"  Crucifixion, virgin birth, miracles, etc., were all required by the story.

Oh, and yes, I looked up Graves' work on Wikipedia for the list and description.