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This interactive course analyzes the stakes underlying the construction of Paris’ controversial Sacré-Coeur Basilica in Montmartre. In the light of heated 19th-century debates on moral authority that opposed religious believers and partisans of a secular state inspired by a scientific ethos, we will consider how the advocates of both sides use specific rhetorical techniques in the public domain (newspaper articles, caricatures, speeches) and artistic devices (paintings, literary writings) to convince their audience of the validity of their claims. In other words, it is all about propaganda. The course will open out onto contemporary debates that show similar ethical conflicts. Recommended Course Background: AS.210.301 or AS.210.302.