In my History of Propaganda class last year, we discussed how to define propaganda . My professor, and our textbook, argued that it is morally neutral. This was difficult for me to believe throughout the course, as we surveyed the work of war campaigns like that of the Third Reich in Nazi Germany. But my professor, Dr. Barcsay, claimed that propaganda is the art of persuasion; the method itself does not have any moral weight. The ideologies may be suspect to moral scrutiny, but the modes of communicating it are not “Evil”. Indeed, propaganda is used for so-called “good” campaigns - like anti-smoking.

 

Reflecting on your religious experience, do you feel that you were part of a polemical process?