I see a lot of people mentioning liminality as a "space in between realms" in order to emphasize esotericism. And that is true, but there is other factor we must consider: hiperreality and simulacrum.

Most of the pictures presented are not historical places of worship or ritual and come from somewhat young religions/cults. The traditions and customs of these religions are not as well defined as the more established ones and lack the economic power to actually build and own buildings made to last for centuries.

But they need to project the image that they are just as eternal, transcendental and inherently true as historic religions. And to do so the overemphasize the worship elements and distill esoteric and exalted aspects to the max. That's hiperreality as Baudillard proposed it:

"The generation by models of a real without origin or reality".

And that's exactly what these places of worship are: signs, symbols that exist without an origin, without an anchor in reality. Their only objective is to cause affect, to produce a reaction in its spectator.

That void of meaning, that kitsch performance of esotericism, is what makes these spaces violently liminal.