Deessentialism: Reducing Religion into Neo-Emerging Theosophies (Erfans) (A Critical Discourse Analysis on Pargar’s BBC Persian T.V Programme)

The present study is a Critical Discourse Analysis on twenty four episodes of a BBC Persian T.V programme entitled “Pargar”. The main purpose of this study is to represent how the dominant hegemonic discourse in this special program i.e. secularism discourse wittingly manipulates audience minds so that they acknowledge religion’s survival and existence only in the forms of neo-emerging theosophies (Erfans) or individual spiritualties. Indeed, religion is imagined as a missing one in public domain. Articulating discourse of religion in dichotomies such as modern expert/Marja sonati, Erfan/ Fiqh, Religion Essence /Religion rituals, individualism /Marjaism tends to deessentialize all essences presupposed among the traditional believers. Indeed, religious reformation and dereligionism are two strategic approaches which secularism applies to deessentialize religion. As a result of this deessentialism, religion has been transformed into something so-called shallow and neutral so that it cannot be easily recognized as a concrete phenomenon in social life.