Adam?

Supposedly several prominent Christian leaders are espousing the idea that Adam was not, as the Bible depicts ( Genesis 2-5, Luke 3, Romans 5:12-21, 1 Corinthians 15:22, 1 Timothy 2:13-14 etc.)a genuine flesh and blood human being but an arch type, a symbol. Now one could ask what difference does this make? Is it not along the lines of the belief of the medieval church that the solar system revolved around the earth rather than the sun? Is it a rational position to hold that Adam was the first human created, by Biblical chronology, approximately six thousand years ago when "scientific" evidence shows much older forms. Isn't this, in the words of Reader's Digest, who many years ago offered a "condensed" version of the Bible, "cranky fundamentalism?"
One wonders what leads alleged Christians who seem relatively orthodox on other doctrines to assert things in line with cultural viewpoints rather than the Bible? "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come." ( 2 Tim. 3:1 NKJV) "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables." ( 2 Tim. 4:3-4) "And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie." ( 2 Thess 2:11)
What Galileo and Copernicus discovered that lead to the understanding that the solar system revolves around the sun did not affect any major doctrine. The belief that Adam was not a real person is a direct assault on the gospel because it eliminates "original" or inherited sin, thus allowing for the secularist viewpoint that any problems we have are caused by the environment we live in. Without innate sin, what need of a Savior? So why would a Christian want to hold the position? Because it allows him to accept the evolutionary thesis in one of its myriad forms and not appear stupid to those around him who "know" that evolution is "scientific." And this is the tragedy, that we will jettison the eternal Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit and take the conjectures of those under "strong delusion" instead.