The simple answer is: We know that air is everywhere but when the wind is not blowing and we feel hot, we use a fan - hand-held or electric. That's how we feel the air and its cooling effect around us. Similarly, to make us feel the presence of God, we sometimes need a temple, a place of worship.

Mahatma Gandhi wrote some 70 years back that temples and images remind us to renew our renunciation and dedication from day to day. They remind us to not forget the origin of the idol.

There are hundreds of millions of people whose faith is sustained through these temples, churches, mosques, synagogues and other places of worship. They are not blind followers of superstition nor are they fanatics. They worship God as manifested inside temples, in the form of idols etc. To reject the necessity of temples is to reject the necessity of God, religion and earthly existence.