The "not God" particle

Following the predictable media coverage of the probable discovery of the Higgs Boson at the Large Hadron Collider, in which the term "the God particle" is freely used, I decided to fire off this response to he Western Mail newspaper this morning in response to their coverage of this event. Although they don't suggest any link between science and theology, the very use of the term "God particle" is highly misleading and could make people think science is somehow acknowledging a god's existence.

Anyway, here's my letter. It will be interesting to see if they print it - although, to be fair, they haven't shied away from printing some of my other letters in the past.

Sir -

I find it unfortunate that your coverage of CERN's probable discovery of the Higgs boson fell back on the lazy journalistic cliché of referring to the Higgs as the 'God particle'.

This discovery is momentous because it confirms the standard model of particle physics. The Higgs is significant because it gives objects mass. However, it has nothing at all to do with any gods or religious ideas. Thus labelling it the 'God particle' is at best erroneous.

In fact, one could argue that the Higgs boson is far more significant than the concept of God. After all, unlike God, there is now evidence that the Higgs boson actually exists.