And sensible people, from St Paul onward, realized that you don’t get results by beating them over the head with your truth.
Let’s start with how he preached to the Athenians. Did he stand in the marketplace and say ‘I am right, you are wrong, your priests are no priests, your gods are demons. Tear down your temples and altars and cease your blasphemous sacrifices’?
No. He learned about their faith, which implies gentle inquiry rather than belligerent grandstanding, even went into their temples and observed who, what and how they worshipped.
Then he starts something like ‘men of Athens, I can see that you fear God and are devout’ Praising what he can, being silent about what he can’t. Building on what he shares with them - ‘I see that you worship the Unknown God. That is my God, the one true God.’
As I said, no real hint of condemnation or that they are less-than. He does say they do not know what they worship, but is not harsh or condemning of their imperfect knowledge.