“Hindus worship idols”, this comes from a combination of misunderstanding, differences in cultures, and historical narratives.
They see the external act, not the underlying philosophy. Someone sees a Hindu bowing before a stone or metal murti (as per their understanding) and the person concludes, "They worship the stone." But in Sanatan Dharma, We have the dual concept of Nishkal (formless) and Sakal (In various divine forms) or Nirguna (without attributes) and Saguna (with attributes). Because that Ultimate Power which is fundamentally beyond forms, if that can give a form or shape to the world, it can also take up any form without any restriction.
At a basic level, the murti is generally understood as a representation or a medium through which a devotee directs worship to God, not as an ordinary object being worshipped. But then comes a higher stage where people like Ramakrishna Paramhansa can actually connect with the divine.
Swami Vivekananda, the Greatest disciple of Ramakrishna Paramhansa and a Great Philosopher himself, he also had a belief that God is just a formless reality, so there's no point in idol worship, he also thought that Ramakrishna Paramhansa is crazy and must be having some hallucination problem. Just like other people who used to watch him from a distance, he would also see his external act of talking with an idol and think that he is mad.
But finally when Swami Vivekananda went to Ramakrishna Paramhansa with an intention to know the complete truth that why does he do all that, the actual purpose of him doing all that. When asked about his experience, Ramakrishna gave Vivekananda that experience, he showed him Maa Kali, Radha Krishna and various forms of God after which Swami Vivekananda got the enlightenment that the Ultimate Reality cannot be restricted to particular aspect.
There is a famous story about a king questioning Swami Vivekananda about idol worship, saying that it is just an object, there is no benefit in worshipping idols.
When challenged by a king about worshipping idols, Vivekananda asked one of his ministers to spit on a hanging portrait of the king. When the minister refused out of respect for the king it represented, Vivekananda explained that an idol functions the exact same way—it is a symbol that points the mind to the Divine. For some, an idol is an idol just an object, but the ones who have that much high level capacity to connect with the divine, only they are able to view idol worship as a natural and helpful step in spiritual development, serving as a physical symbol to help the human mind focus on the divine form of that truth.
So that's how Swami Vivekananda's view about idol worship changed when he himself got the divine experience of Kali, Krishna and other forms of that Ultimate Consciousness. Then we all know even the Western world became the great admirer of Swami Vivekananda.
One of the Greatest Freedom Fighters, and my favourite.. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, he was also very much inspired from Swami Vivekananda.
Netaji himself is said that to be great sadhaka and used to practice his faith in private.
So faith is a very private matter, the moment people try to impose their ideas about spirituality or truth or whatever they believe in or their community believe in, then that becomes a problem.
Each individual has his/her own journey, they experience the divine and based on that they are free believe and practice. This is Sanatan Dharma. It is all about experience, if someone doesn’t taste a food item.. How will he know the taste, then it is upto him/her if he/she believes that it is tasty or horrible.