I agree with you that many people just continue on in the denomination that they were raised in. When I was in confirmation as a teenager we were actually required to go to different types of churches and attend some services so we could see the differences and we talked about other religions too. I think that was really useful in helping us see what other beliefs were and see what our ELCA church was really all about. I think people need to understand and think about what they believe and not blindly just follow along (this goes for politics too). It is amazing how similar all the Christian denominations are but some of the differences are so subtle but can make a huge difference. Heck, there are at least 4 different divisions/synods in the Lutheran Church!
Side story about the different Lutheran synod's and their differences....a guy I knew belonged to a certain Lutheran synod and married a friend of mine who belongs to the ELCA synod (like me). So when my friend's husband informed his church that he was changing his membership to the ELCA his pastor called him up and told him that if he did he would be doomed to "he double hockey sticks" because the ELCA doesn't believe in Jesus! My friend's husband was like WHAT the....?!?! and never contacted his old pastor again. This story isn't unique either, my husband has dealt with a few people in our community leaving one of the Lutheran (in a different town even than my friend's husband's original church) churches to join our ELCA church and these people have had similar threats when they left.
Oh geez, now with all this church talk I feel a little guilty now that I skipped going to church today....