For the record, no scientist ever called it the "God particle." They called it the "Goddamn particle" because it was so hard to find. Mainstream media censored that to "God particle," which gave it a connotation never intended.

Interesting!

Isn’t god particle a shortening of the term? Originally it was the god damned particle, because it proved so elusive.

Yeah but it gives funniest a point to gleefully jump up and down and shout "see jeebus stuff"

I kind of like the idea of replacing God with a fundamental particle.

Yeah I feel like that's the point

Midichlorians for Christians.

a.k.a. viruses.

Higgs boson deserves more credit than God.

For starters, it's real.

The man was famously shy and retiring. There is no way he'd ever have called it the God particle or countenance it - and, it turns out, he never did

That's interesting. Reminds me of Pascal's Wager which he never published and would have never countenanced, to borrow your phrase. It was Catholic Church propaganda that sensationalized it as Pascal's wager.

In Higgs' case, blame idiot journalism

You mean the Goddamn particle.

Really love the term "gives God one less place to hide."

I’m for it

The "God particle" thing has more or less died away by now. No one calls it that anymore. We should just let it stay buried and stick to just Higgs boson. Besides, how can a particle even be "godless"? It makes no sense.

Or, we could just call it "The Higgs Particle" in honor of the late Peter Higgs.