Is Biblical Christianity Bankrupt?

James McGrath links to a stimulating piece by Michael Dowd called Biblical Christianity is Bankrupt. It begins with this revealing quote from Carl Sagan.

How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, "This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said - grander, more subtle, more elegant. God must be even greater than we dreamed"? Instead they say, "No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way."

It's well worth checking out. Dowd, author of Thank God for Evolution, has been engaging in an exchange with Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president Al Mohler. Ayatollah Al should probably give up before he makes an even bigger fool of himself. Mohler is the genius who famously asserted that Christians and Jews worship different gods.

Meanwhile back on the Missouri ranch, Paul McCain of Concordia Propaganda Publishing House has reposted a bit of fundavisionist drivel from this selfsame Mohler. Mohler in the article flails about to produce what amounts to a potted update of Harold Lindsell's addle-headed The Battle for the Bible, released way back in 1976. Those were the days of "Chairman Jao" (for those old enough to remember J. A. O. Preus, the reactionary president of the Missouri Synod who single-handedly destroyed Concordia Seminary in St. Louis). Mohler also favorably cites evangelical mystagogue J. I. Packer - is this his idea of a credible source?

Well, probably.

Whether or not you agree with Dowd about the bankrupcy of biblical Christianity, it seems pretty certain that Mohler and others out on the fringe are bankrupt in another sense.