This is what the oxford dictionary says.

proselytizing

/ˈprɒsɪlɪtʌɪzɪŋ/

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noun

the action of attempting to convert someone from one religion, belief, or opinion to another.

"no amount of proselytizing was going to change their minds"

Definitions from Oxford Languages

Quite the contrary, prosyletize is generally always speaking about religious people going out to convert other people. It is rarely used in other senses.

In addition, because in English a word can be used in several different ways, it is the context of the sentence that tells you which way it is used. In this case, the text both before and after was about religion, so that is very definitely the meaning of the word - to convert others to religion.

If I wanted to change people's minds about their opinions, I would delight in speaking to people who believe in gods and who are conservatives. Precisely because I have no interest whatsoever in changing anyone's mind about anything, I want nothing to do with them.

So you're a professor and you like the feeling of 'challenging students.' Let me be quite blunt here. I am not your student, and I don't need to be challenged. I am 70 years old, and probably considerally more intelligent and educated than you are.