A Moral War Over the 'Crowning Sin of the Age'
Rev. Brevard D. Sinclair’s sermon against the 'perversion of marriage' ignites a fierce debate in New England and Seattle over birth control and societal decline.
While the Presbyterian church has been stirred by heresy controversies, a new subject has opened with the publication of 'The Crowning Sin of the Age—the Perversion of Marriage' by Rev. Brevard D. Sinclair, pastor of the Calvary Church in Seattle. Sinclair depicts the prevention of offspring as a national sin, arguing that it leads to the extinction of native populations while immigrant families flourish. He labels marriages that avoid procreation as a form of 'lust, pure and simple,' and critiques New England society for prioritizing personal convenience over religious duty. His words have sparked both a storm of criticism and a tide of praise in the East, and his presence as a Seattle resident is drawing significant local attention to his book.
“Any marriage which deliberately sets about the violation of God's law as to the end of its institution is the product not of righteousness... but is the product of lust.”
Sinclair’s rhetoric, which weaponized moral panic and nativist anxiety regarding population growth, serves as a stark historical reminder of how reproductive autonomy has been framed as a 'civic crisis' by traditionalists across generations.
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