This was my immediate thought. "The church" sounds like a specific cult, sect, or denomination. There's a wide spectrum of beliefs across these and one cannot act like they've been to them all
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Not necessarily: in much of American Christianity, "the church" just means the collection of all Christian believers [0][1][2]. It would typically be read to exclude non-Christians, but include all mainstream sects and denominations.
[0] https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/...
[1] https://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-the-church.html
[2] https://www.christianity.com/church/what-is-the-church-its-p...
Baptists are very different from Catholics which are very different from Protestants which are very different from Church of Christ. Sure they’re all Christian, but the beliefs/cultures vary a lot between different denominations which is what I assume the two parent comments are pointing out. If you think you can collectively call American Christianity one religion, then you haven’t experienced different sects of the church. Believing in Jesus is the only common denominator.
All I'm saying is that when the grandparent used the phrase "the church" they probably meant it in the broader "followers of Christ" sense and not a specific denomination as OP assumes.
I'm very aware of the differences between denominations, and the degree to which the grandparent comment generalized across these disparate denominations is definitely problematic, but what I said is accurate: much of American Christianity uses the phrase "the church" in a highly inclusive way that is different than what OP assumed was meant.