Eliza... I fully understand why people (including your husband) have such beliefs, and I try to never present MY side of the issue as 'bludgeoning' of THEIR mindsets. I assume your husband understands why you think 'differently' about evil spirits.... but it is just too deeply ingrained in his culture to totally abandon.
If education and culture proceeded sanely, we would retain the sense of wonder & awe ascribed to the worship of the 'dieties' of our ancestors, and cultivate new 'rituals' based on the stories and art and communal practices... but without the hard and fast beliefs in them as literal truth.
We already do this with Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny...etc... to enchant our children....and often ourselves. We understand our history better if we keep certain aspects of it alive, and not just in books and university lectures. In the USA there are many reinactments of Civil War battles... not because we approve of the conflict (well... most of us) but because it is about us. In the UK, there are a number of Wiccan gatherings, but I doubt more than a small % take it totally seriously. Here I know people who regularly attend church, but who use it as a social, organized way to confront ideas and issues and share them with others. (The Unitarians ... I used to be one... do church-like things without a lot of worry over the more metaphysical elements.)

All that being said, I worry every day about the fact that tolerating religious views involves allowing even the fanatical extremists to preach their doctrines..... but there's just no clear place to draw a line that can be enforced. The US Constitution says "there will be no establishement of religions".. but also says religion may not be prohibited. The trouble is, many Christian divisions take literally the admonition of Jesus to recruit and convert NON-Christians... and thus take issue with the idea of NOT "establishing" religion: and the 1st Amendment is often totally ignored until someone makes a court case about it--- where conservative judges often find a way to let them get away with being pushy. (freedom of speech & all that)

Human being are not computers... they are fallible... and they WILL often act according to what "feels good" and is comfortable under the duress of peer pressure, rather than endure the hard work of **thinking** to much about their own beliefs. Education, as currently practiced, can do only so much to instill reasoning that will help humans gradually relegate our culture & history to a reasonable place in our lives, enriching rather than enslaving us.