I would say there are both intellectual and felt needs. Apologetics is kind of its own genre of rhetoric and doesn’t satisfy everyone. It can be better to offer to research an objection together, rather than try to win it (more fun, too.)

Religious debates in a friendly setting can also lead to personal sharing that opens someone to emotional or spiritual experiences.

Minimizing intellectual concerns by overriding with an emotional experience does not “work”, not long-term and certainly not over generations.

But there are also people who have few or no intellectual concerns! Caveats all the way down.