The Facial Data of the Devotees: A Pinnacle of Digital Symbolic Effectiveness

The article is based on a case study: the incorporation of facial recognition technologies in evangelical churches in Brazil. In this context, the faces of believers shift from being regarded as indicators of identity to becoming subjects of a facial analysis taxonomy. Within this interplay, a gradual resemblance emerges between what artificial technology recognizes and conveys and what the priest or pastor anticipates. In this tension between the aletheic and the scopic, the believer’s face no longer serves as a point of connection with individuality. Instead, the frontal surface of the head is transformed into a source of facial data. These data, ultimately, possess symbolic effectiveness: categories and recognition patterns shape a new reality.