What Does the Discovery of “The God Particle” (Higgs Boson) Have to Do With God?

In March 2013 scientists from the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland confirmed discovery of the “Higgs boson” particle, often called “The God Particle” by the media. The search lasted 49 years and involved over 1,000 scientists. This session outlines the Standard Model of elementary particles and how the Higgs boson proposal arose. It discusses the scientific meaning of the media statement “the Higgs gives mass to all other particles without which we and the world as we know it would not exist.” The simplicity and beauty of the resulting model will be explained. But how did this particle gain the title ‘the God particle” and where does it get its creative and spiritual identity in the public mind? What spiritual implications does it have, and how is it related to traditional religious beliefs, like those of Christianity? How do we formulate effective scientific apologetics to answer challenges like this to biblical Christianity and help people to better understand the biblical worldview?