As a Catholic, which church to attend is pretty straightforward; except for rare cases you go to the one closest to you. But if you’re say a Baptist you can go to American/Southern/National/Foursquare/Ind./etc Baptist churches, and with most Protestant churches it’s a similar situation. The question I want to know is how big a deal is the denomination to the average churchgoer. Does it make a difference or do you just go to the closest one? Is it normal to go to different denominations? How hard is it to tell them apart?
It depends on the denomination. Those who, for example, believe in speaking in tongues, are going to go to a church that thinks that’s of the devil. Heck, many Protestants won’t go to charismatic churches at all. And then there are some sects that preach that you can only go to their church.
As for my personal experience? Meh. I don’t like too much formalism in worship. I’ll attend those types of churches, but I won’t feel at home. But the actual beliefs usually don’t matter unless they are exclusivists: i.e., they think they are the only true Christianity. I’m also not too fond of old-style Pentecostal churches due to the obvious misogyny.
And, for the record, I grew up Assembly of God, but now am pretty close to nondenominational. I’m big on discovering your own beliefs, rather than accepting anything as a decree from on high.
I think you’re coming from a false premise of ‘Catholic’ vs’ Everything else’. There’s huge variation within protestantism. As a (now atheist but) Anglican, I’d find more in common with a Catholic church than other protestant churches. I think it’s important to note that I was raised ‘Anglican’ not ‘Protestant’. We didn’t even talk about ‘protestantism’, that seems to be a phrase that Catholics throw around more than anyone else (as I have noticed with my Catholic partner).
Agreed, there are miles of differences between some denominations, and with others small differences that are important to those who are members but maybe not noticeable to those outside. When I grew up, I was raised in the Reformed Church in America (aka “Dutch Reformed”), which was held distinct from the somewhat less conservative Christian Reformed Church; both are Calvinist denominations of Protestantism. The two groups split about 150 years ago and are more alike than different to outside observers, but the doctrine differences were pretty distinct to those in the groups.
“Protestant” covers everything from the churches where people speak in tongues or handle snakes, to strict ones where dancing and makeup are disapproved of, to places like the United Church of Christ which ordains out (and in relationships) gay and lesbian ministers, has hymns that speak of evolution as God’s great work, and performs commitment ceremonies/gay and lesbian marriages.
To a Protestant, you might as well be asking whether their type of job matters.