This church excommunicated Galileo for his observations the sun is in the center of the solar system so their record on pronouncements of a scientific nature is far from "infallible"
>>This church excommunicated Galileo for his observations the sun is in the center
Wrong. This happened because Galileo refused to treat his observations as theories. Instead he went around teaching them as irrefutable fact.
Had Galeleo simply admitted his theory was a theory and treated it as such, he would have been fine. The church was not opposed to his theory, the Church just wanted to be sure it was in fact, the truth.
This was an issue of obedience to the church about how his theory was presented, not about the theory itself. The church never demand that he recant his theory, only that he treat it as such.
Aw jeez, not that crap again! Please check out the original thread where that subject was discussed.