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Notes -
Yes, theology matters quite a lot to many people. In general though Protestant denominations care much less than Catholics or Orthodox Christians.
Is this really true? Perhaps I'm just in the "really cares about theology" corner of denominations. But I know a bunch of other laypeople besides me who I know have read at least a thousand pages of theological writings, not counting the bible. (one I directly know, at least four more whom it would be inconcievable for them not to have done so, many more who I'd be surprised if that weren't the case, and still more who I wouldn't be surprised to learn that it was the case)
Actually, yeah, maybe I'm in a subculture, that's definitely less true broadly across protestantism. That said, what with preaching being a larger emphasis, I'd expect that that would push a little more towards caring about teaching. I guess you definitely see it in the end-times things, in some groups.
My sense was that Eastern Orthodox Christians were often there for the vibes, or maybe due to their ethnicity.
My feeling is that there’s a pretty big division between ‘serious’ or ‘hardcore’ Catholics who do things like have big families and refuse to go to gay weddings, who really care about theology(the actual IRL tradcaths are a subset of this group), and ‘Sunday’ Catholics who go home after church and don’t think about it all that much until next weekend. I kind of assume it’s the same for Eastern Orthodox because there’s similar dynamics.
Now, disclaimer that this is just IME, but IME evangelicals don’t care very much about theology, even very religious ones. They’re more interested in ascertaining a minimum level of commitment and piety than they are in the details of theological beliefs and surveys tend to show that they really don’t know a lot about their own theology, either.
Yeah, this seems pretty true. (And the further divide, I assume, between those who call themselves Catholic but don't even attend regularly.)
I think this varies, but after rethinking it, yeah, you're generally right. Doctrine can be seen as a barrier to unity (which it can be, all too often!), and as relatively unimportant compared to caring about Jesus, the basics of the gospel, etc. They will have some beliefs that they're committed to, but it's not as central.
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