The subject of religious protectorate has proceeded together with the claim of being a political and economic power for France. France created a strong link between their political and economic power and religious protectorate in Levant. This link had a potential of being very useful in 19th century politics when religious rhetoric and intervention became important elements of imperial struggle and means for the legitimization of imperial enterprises. To prevent international reactions against the imperial enterprises and to direct public opinion religious rhetoric was widely used and proved to be useful. France had previously used these means successfully but the French Revolution and continuous regime changes caused some deterioration in their use. Other powers began to test the strength of France. Louis Napoleon put an end to this situation for France. He assumed the title of emperor and began to follow an aggressive policy to increase France’s reputation and to make France an imperial power. He strongly supported religious protectorate understanding and the missionary efforts. Eastern Mediterranean was a very crucial region for France’s imperialistic interests in the Ottoman Empire. Thus France was delicately approaching every development in the region. When France waged the Crimean War against Russia the French administration stressed religious reasons and France’s historical mission in the Holy Places to justify the war in the eyes of public opinion. After a short while France played the most active role in international intervention to Lebanon in 1860 that was a result of ethnic and religious conflict experienced in Lebanon and Syria between the Maronites and Druses and Muslims. In order to explain this intervention to French and European public opinion traditional French religious protectorate was repeatedly stressed. Also French missionaries played a significant role in providing attention and support of French people to the region. Being very active in the region, missionaries made effort to justify French intervention and to mold public opinion via publications and propaganda. In this paper, the role of religious rhetoric in justifying French interventions to Eastern Mediterranean and in molding public opinion on behalf of them will be evaluated. In this context, activities and propagandas of both French officials and missionaries will be considered. In this study, documents from the French archives, particularly the Archives du Ministère des Affaires Étrangères; archives, journals and publications of missionaries will be used as main sources. The Ottoman and Protestant missionaries’ archives will also be consulted.