Religious oversaturation is not hostility to religion; it is the social and psychological exhaustion that arises when religion is offered too heavily and too officially.
Life and Thought
Ali Zamanian, born in 1962 in Qom, is an Iranian writer, researcher and sociologist. He is best known for his social, religious and ethical notes and essays published in outlets such as Khabar Online and IQNA, with his main focus on the sociology of religion and social ethics.
Ali Zamanian, born in 1962 in Qom, is an Iranian writer, researcher and sociologist. He holds a master’s degree in sociology and has been active in research, teaching and writing. Zamanian is known more for his social, religious and ethical notes and essays than for numerous academic books. His writings have appeared in media such as Khabar Online, IQNA, Farhang-e Emrooz and Zeytoon, and usually address the relation between religion and society, public ethics, politics, the family, rituals, religious practices, reading and the meaning of life.
The main axis of Zamanian’s work can be described as the sociology of religion and social ethics. He writes about religiosity, religious oversaturation, the relation between religion and politics, the role of rituals, the symbolic understanding of religion, everyday ethics, lying, hope, the family and social life. In one of his notes on “religious oversaturation” (din-zadegi), he analyses the issue not from an anti-religious angle but from the perspective of social saturation and the psychological fatigue of society under the heavy and official presentation of religion.
