but I respectfully disagree.

I definitely disagree that debate should stay out of the church for any reason (language problems or any other). So then who decides stuff in he church? If Martin Luther had not challenged the Catholic church to try and reform it everyone but the Orthodox would still be buying indulgences to get into heaven.

Although then you say:
"That said, I completely agree that there is a great deal to be gained from engaging in cross-denominational discussion because it teaches us just how relative and how limited our own perspective and view-point might be, and just how much we depend on preconceptions, which, when challenged, can leave us with no room to move, and no air to breathe." So I am not exactly sure what you are saying.

I suppose my analogy response is that getting your heart racing and making it difficult to breathe is a good thing, that is exercise and done right it makes you stronger. In this case not physically but emotionally and spiritually and just generally as a person. It's fine if both parties walked away without changing their minds, now you are more able to think about your own positions and understand other people's point of view better.

"For me, the greatest danger facing the church today is fundamentalism: the tendency to either retreat into a corner when faced with contradiction and complexity or to come out with fists flying defending what we perceive as the truth, unable to listen and unable to change. "

I'm not sure what I would say is the greatest danger but this is definitely one of the worst.