The holy paladin on my 5s is usually still in prot spec but just wearing a good holy set, and gets along well enough. Maybe even better because he’s a little tanky. And I just stay in raid spec most of the time, but it’s only 10 points difference.
I’m more for finding a middle ground that works for both, because I am in bgs every day but also raiding multiple days.
But obviously if you’re pushing rating or progressing, yeah respec.