Oh, for the love of...

This post initially appeared on Science Blogs

Someone is wrong on the internet:

I love that nomenclature, "the God particle". It is a sign that scientists sometimes are unabashed about acknowledging what atheists are often reluctant to grasp: that "believing" in science involves faith too.

Faith in science is far more practical than faith in the idea that a big, omnipotent boy did it and ran off. Or I place my faith in that argument anyway. But it's still faith, not fact, so sneering at faith per se is not a very reasoned or logical mode of argument.

Leaving aside the fact that most physicists do not believe in god, and the name is more than likely a nerdy attempt at irony, the idea that science "faith" and religious "faith" are the same is absurd. It may seem pedantic, but definitions matter. The argument has been done to death, but his is (in my opinion) the best (and most entertaining) reposte: